Starbucks Earnings Fail to Impress Despite Meeting Estimates

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) reported fiscal second-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday. The company had $0.39 in earnings per share (EPS) on $5.00 billion in revenue compared to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.39 in EPS on $5.03 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $0.33 in EPS on $4.56 billion in revenue.

Global comparable store sales increased 6%, comprised of a 4% increase in ticket and 2% increase in traffic.

During this quarter, the company served nearly 16 million more customer occasions from its global comp store base, with over 12 million coming from the U.S. when compared to the same period from last year.

Membership in the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program grew by 16% year-over-year, and by 8% sequentially. Mobile Order and Pay usage doubled from last year, and Starbucks is now processing 8 million Mobile Order and Pay transactions per month.

In terms of guidance for the fiscal third-quarter, the company expects EPS in the range of $0.48 to $0.49, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.49.

Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks, commented:

Starbucks record Q2 financial and operating performance – including a stunning 18% increase in revenues and a 5% increase in transactions in China – underscores the strength of the Starbucks brand and the resiliency of our global retail and CPG businesses. Loyalty, technology and innovation are continuing to fuel our digital flywheel and propel our business forward all around the world.

Scott Maw, CFO, added:

Starbucks Q2 represented another quarter of solid growth, with the highest revenues of any non-holiday quarter in our history and excellent financial, operating and profit performance. The record-setting performance we delivered in the first half of fiscal 2016 ideally positions us to benefit from the investments we are making in our partners, in our stores and in groundbreaking innovation, and to continue delivering world class returns to our shareholders into the future.

Shares of Starbucks closed Thursday at $60.64, with a consensus analyst price target of $68.00 and a 52-week trading range of $42.05 to $64.00. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was down 4.5% at $57.89 in the after-hours trading session.