By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) are up almost 2% in pre-open Wednesday after the chain of coffeehouses reported better-than-expected FQ3 results.
Starbucks reported an adjusted EPS of $0.84 to top the consensus of $0.76. Revenue came in at $8.15 billion, just ahead of the consensus of $8.14 billion.
Comparable sales fell short of estimates, coming in at +3% to miss on the expected +4.26%. International comparable sales fell -by 18% while U.S. sales were up +9%.
“We delivered record-breaking revenue performance during the quarter from continued strength in customer demand globally, balanced with our ability to execute investments despite macroeconomic and operational headwinds. Our commitment to deliver shareholder value has not wavered, and we are making the right decisions and investments today for the future of Starbucks,” said Rachel Ruggeri, CFO.
Starbucks’ outlook remains suspended for this fiscal year.
A Jefferies analyst reiterated a Buy rating and a $100 per share price target on SBUX stock.
“F3Q EPS beat as strong US margins and inline SSS more than offset the China biz's woes, where visibility remains low but greenshoots of improvement have emerged. The latter's recovery, September investor day, and new CEO due this fall to act as positive nt catalysts, in our view, and think upcoming investments in partners will set up the Co well for l-t growth,” the analyst said in a note.
A Piper Sandler analyst is still Neutral-rated on Starbucks, despite better-than-expected results, as “an overhaul initiative with an interim-CEO in place raises questions regarding power of deployment.”