Starbucks is booming in China, but sales still disappoint

Starbucks topped analysts' predictions for its quarterly profits on Tuesday, although Wall Street had anticipated higher same-store sales. Nevertheless, the company reaffirmed its fiscal 2023 outlook during the conference call. Starbucks anticipates a 10%–12% increase in revenue. The company marginally increased its projected adjusted earnings-per-share growth range from the low end of 15% to 20% …

Starbucks topped analysts’ predictions for its quarterly profits on Tuesday, although Wall Street had anticipated higher same-store sales. Nevertheless, the company reaffirmed its fiscal 2023 outlook during the conference call. Starbucks anticipates a 10%–12% increase in revenue. The company marginally increased its projected adjusted earnings-per-share growth range from the low end of 15% to 20% to 16% to 17%. In extended trading, firm shares decreased by less than 1%. The coffee company announced a net income attributable to Starbucks for the third quarter of its fiscal year of $1.41 billion, or 99 cents per share, up from $912.9 million, or 79 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Due to increased productivity and higher menu pricing, the company’s operating margin increased to 17.3% from 15.9%. Starbucks made $1 per share after goods were taken out. To $9.17 billion, net sales increased 12%. Sales at the same stores increased 10%, underperforming StreetAccount’s forecast of an 11% increase. Both in North America and its other regions, same-store sales growth was slower than anticipated. The coffee giant’s same-store sales in North America increased by 7% rather than the expected 8.4%. The domestic market for the corporation continues to experience significant demand. Starbucks reported a 1% increase in customers for the quarter. Additionally, consumers were ordering more breakfast sandwiches in addition to their coffee purchases, and they were also enhancing their drinks with costly extras like cold foam.

On the company’s conference call, CEO Laxman Narasimhan informed analysts that “we actually see growth in our largest sizes over our smaller sizes, so we’re not seeing down trading in our customer base.” As customer preferences continue to move away from hot coffee, three-quarters of beverage orders in the United States were for cold drinks. Starbucks’ same-store sales grew 24% outside of North America, less than the forecasted 24.2% gain. The company’s foreign expansion was spurred by increased demand in China, which is the company’s second-largest market. Same-store sales in China increased 46% during the quarter.

 

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