Starbucks Steams Ahead with Q2 Earnings

April 25, 2019 by Chris Lange

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) released fiscal second-quarter financial results after markets closed  Thursday. The coffee giant said that it had $0.60 in earnings per share (EPS) and $6.3 billion in revenue. That compares with consensus estimates of $0.56 in EPS and $6.31 billion in revenue, as well as the $0.53 per share and $6.03 billion posted in the same period of last year.

During the quarter, global comparable store sales increased 3%, driven by a 3% increase in average ticket. This consisted of Americas and U.S. comparable store sales increasing 4% and China/Asia Pacific comparable store sales increasing 2%.

The company opened 319 net new stores in the second quarter, yielding 30,184 stores at the end of the quarter, a 7% increase over the prior year. About 94% of net new store openings were outside of the U.S. while 88% were licensed.

Looking ahead to 2019, the firm expects to see full-year EPS in the range of $2.75 to $2.79 and comparable sales growth of 3% to 4%. Consensus estimates call for $2.71 in EPS and $26.29 billion in revenue for the year.

Kevin Johnson, president and CEO, commented:

Starbucks delivered another quarter of solid operating results, demonstrating that our ‘Growth at Scale’ agenda is working. We are especially pleased with our comparable store sales growth in our two lead markets, the U.S. and China, where we are also continuing to drive strong new store development with industry-leading returns. With solid first-half financial results, we are on track to deliver on our full-year commitments.

Shares of Starbucks closed Thursday at $77.11, with a consensus analyst price target of $71.28 and a 52-week range of $47.37 to $77.06. Following the announcement, the stock was up about 2% at $78.50 in the after-hours session.

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