After Another Weak Quarter for Starbucks, Is It Time to Avoid the Stock?
The story of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) today is the story of a giant trying to figure out how to keep its growth train going. The company's most recent results did not provide much inspiration. The changes begun by its still-fairly new CEO -- formerly the head of Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) -- haven't yet yielded the results that people were hoping for. Given the weak results, it seems that a turnaround for the company, which has seen things slow down quite a bit over the last two years, might take much longer than originally thought.Put simply, these results could have been better. The fiscal quarter that ended March 30 was the company's fifth straight period reporting a decline in same-store sales. Total comp store sales declined by 1%, and total comparable transactions declined by 2%. This shows that its 2% increase in net revenues stemmed from the increase in the number of stores. In addition, the 1% increase in the average ticket size drove up total expenditures per transaction, offsetting the weakness in overall transactions. In all, earnings declined by 50% in the quarter to $0.34 per share. One of the main headaches for the chain has been its domestic market. Same-store sales in North America declined 1% in the quarter, with total transactions falling by 4%. The weakness in terms of traffic was offset by a 3% growth in the average ticket size.Continue reading
The story of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) today is the story of a giant trying to figure out how to keep its growth train going. The company's most recent results did not provide much inspiration. The changes begun by its still-fairly new CEO -- formerly the head of Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) -- haven't yet yielded the results that people were hoping for. Given the weak results, it seems that a turnaround for the company, which has seen things slow down quite a bit over the last two years, might take much longer than originally thought.
Put simply, these results could have been better. The fiscal quarter that ended March 30 was the company's fifth straight period reporting a decline in same-store sales. Total comp store sales declined by 1%, and total comparable transactions declined by 2%. This shows that its 2% increase in net revenues stemmed from the increase in the number of stores. In addition, the 1% increase in the average ticket size drove up total expenditures per transaction, offsetting the weakness in overall transactions. In all, earnings declined by 50% in the quarter to $0.34 per share.
One of the main headaches for the chain has been its domestic market. Same-store sales in North America declined 1% in the quarter, with total transactions falling by 4%. The weakness in terms of traffic was offset by a 3% growth in the average ticket size.
