Starbucks Profit In Line With Estimates, Sales Beats; Stock Up 4%

(RTTNews) - Coffee company Starbucks Corp (SBUX) on Thursday reported second-quarter net earnings of $495 million or $0.33 per share compared with $427 million or $0.28 per share last year.

The company's revenues for the quarter were up 18% at $4.56 billion compared with $3.87 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.33 per share on revenues of $4.53 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Starbucks said the growth in revenues was driven by incremental business from the purchase of Starbucks Japan, a 7% climb in comparable store sales and the opening of 1,511 new stores over the past 12 months, partly offset by unfavorable foreign currency translation.

Comparable store sales in the Americas was up 7%, China and Asia Pacific gained 12%, and Europe, Middle East and Africa rose 2%, Starbucks said.

The company's operating margin improved 40 basis points from a year ago to 17 percent in the quarter.

"Starbucks Q2 represented another quarter of strong revenue growth and record operating and financial performance all around the world, and despite significant foreign exchange headwinds," said CFO Scott Maw.

"As we enter the second half of 2015 - and look to the future - we are ideally positioned to continue benefiting from the investments we are making in our people, in innovation and in our stores - and to continue delivering world class returns to our shareholders."

For the third quarter, the company expects adjusted earnings of $0.40 to $0.41 per share, while analysts expect $0.40 per share.

For the full year 2015, the company still expects adjusted earnings of $1.55 to $1.57 per share, sales growth of 16% to 18%, and comparable store sales growth of mid-single digits.

Analysts expect earnings of $1.57 per share on sales growth of 16.2% for the year.