Starbucks Corp. said revenue jumped 18% in the June quarter,
boosting profit as traffic increased world-wide.
Shares increased about 3.6% in recent after-hours trading as the
company also raised its full-year earnings outlook, saying it sees
adjusted profit in the range of $1.57 to $1.58 a share. The company
had previously forecast $1.55 to $1.57.
Starbucks's board has also authorized the repurchase of an
additional 50 million shares under its continuing stock-buyback
program—which would be worth about $2.78 billion as of Thursday's
closing price. This is in addition to the 11 million shares that
remain available for repurchase due to an existing agreement.
The Seattle-based company has been expanding geographically and
embracing digital partnerships. It has agreed to market, sell and
distribute its drinks in Latin America and will also open stores in
South Africa starting next year.
In the most recent quarter, sales at company-operated stores in
the U.S. open at least 13 months rose 8% during the latest quarter
as traffic grew by 4%. Starbucks' comparable sales world-wide also
rose 7%, also with a 4% traffic increase.
Overall, Starbucks reported a profit of $626.7 million, or 41
cents a share, up from $512.6 million, or 34 cents a share, a year
earlier.
Excluding special items, per-share earnings were 42 cents.
Revenue increased to $4.88 billion, due mostly to revenue from
the acquisition of Starbucks Japan and the opening of 1,592 net new
stores in the past 12 months.
Analysts had expected earnings of 41 cents a share on revenue of
$4.86 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
For its current quarter, the company forecast per-share earnings
of 42 cents to 43 cents. Analysts expected per-share profit of 43
cents.
Starbucks said it now expects full-year capital expenditures of
$1.3 billion, down from $1.4 billion.
The company has rolled out mobile-payment options in more
states, and recently signed partnerships with Spotify and
ride-sharing business Lyft Inc.
Starbucks also recently tapped Kevin Johnson, a former chief
executive at Juniper Networks Inc. and 16-year veteran of Microsoft
Corp., as president.
Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@wsj.com
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