Starbucks Corporation: Good Quarter or Not? Key Takeaways Investors Should Know – San Antonio Express-News

Tea sales grew over 17% at Starbucks, the highest rate in over one year last quarter. Starbucks Corporation  reported second-quarter earnings after market close on April 21, and early on April 22, the stock is trading down about 5.5%. […] Starbucks delivered another great quarter, with some metrics coming in a little softer than Wall Street analysts expected.  Here’s a closer look at the company’s financial results for the second quarter, as well as some key comments from management on the earnings call for added context of those results.  A key measure for Starbucks store performance is comparable store sales, or comps, which measures revenue growth at stores open more than 13 months. […] this quarter was the first that included the 1,100 stores that Starbucks acquired from a Japanese licensee in 2015 in the comp numbers, making Japan — not China — the largest segment of the CAP comp base. Nonetheless, CFO Scott Maw said they are still forecasting mid-single-digit comps growth for CAP in 2016, likely because more Chinese stores will enter the comp base over the next six months, and that market continues to perform exceptionally well.  Johnson said that on a systemwide basis in EMEA (including non-Starbucks owned stores), comps increased 4% in the quarter, even as Europe and the Middle East continue to face economic uncertainty.  In the earnings preview, I pointed out the profit-producing value of Starbucks’ channel development business, which is essentially everything Starbucks you buy somewhere besides Starbucks. In the second quarter, channel development produced 9.2% of revenue and 21% of operating income, and its 39.5% operating margin makes it easily the most profitable segment of the company. The planned launch of single-serve capsules for Nespresso machines and the ability to sell K-Cups directly to office and other distribution channels. Keurig Green Mountain Inc. is the undisputed single-serve coffee leader in North America, and Starbucks is the most popular brand of K-Cup for the company’s machines. The company says it will sell more than 1.5 billion Starbucks K-Cups in 2016, a nearly 20% jump from 2015, and that its new agreement with Keurig offers improved economics and flexibility than the prior deal. Channel development may be a relatively small piece of the revenue pie, but it’s an outsize slice of profits that is likely to only grow bigger over time and also an important way Starbucks leverages its brand appeal.  Starbucks management essentially reiterated its guidance for 2016, sticking to its guns on expectations for 10%-plus revenue growth for the full year, and comps “somewhat above” the mid-single digits, even after falling short on both of these metrics in the second quarter, and GAAP earnings per share in the range of $1.85-$1.86 for the full year, on slightly increased operating margin.

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