By Lisa Baertlein
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (O:SBUX) reported quarterly sales that just missed Wall Street's expectations, hurt by a slight cooling in spending growth by customers in its core U.S. market, sending shares down 4.4 percent in extended trading on Thursday.
The world's biggest coffee chain said net revenue was up 6 percent to $5.3 billion for the fiscal second quarter, falling short of the $5.4 billion expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The average amount spent per order was up 4 percent in the United States for the quarter ended April 2, versus the 5 percent gain in the prior quarter.
Kevin Johnson, who this month succeeded Howard Schultz as chief executive officer, said the company is on track to deliver stronger results.
"With our U.S. business accelerating throughout the quarter and strong performance in China, we are poised to deliver strong revenue growth in the second half and into the future," Johnson said in a statement.
Schultz, Starbucks' co-founder, in April transitioned to the role of executive chairman in charge of expanding the company's super-premium offerings.
Sales at U.S. cafes open at least 13 months were up 3 percent in the latest quarter, unchanged from the prior quarter. Traffic, referred to as transactions, fell 2 percent for the second quarter in a row amid a stubborn industry-wide slump.
Net income attributed to Starbucks was $652.8 million, or 45 cents per share, for the second quarter, up from $575.1 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier. Results from the latest quarter matched the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Starbucks in January reported disappointing results from U.S. cafes and pinned most of the blame on mobile orders that had piled up at drink pickup stations.
The company has since sought to ease congestion by reworking some job duties and giving managers more leeway to add needed labor as part of a broad customer re-engagement program called North Star.
Shares of Starbucks were down $2.70 at $58.60 in after-hours trade.