Starbucks stock pops on earnings beat, buyback news
The coffee chain reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations on Thursday. (Tweet This)
Starbucks posted fiscal third-quarter earnings of 42 cents per share on $4.88 billion in revenue. Analysts forecast Starbucks would report earnings of 41 cents a share on $4.86 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.
After the earnings announcement, the company's shares rose more than 5 percent in extended-hours trading. The coffee giant is trading well above its $57 all-time high at current extended-hours levels.
The retailer also announced on Thursday that it would be repurchasing 50 million shares as part of its buyback program. This is in addition to the 11 million shares that were available for repurchase as of June 28, 2015, the company said.
Starbucks expects full-year revenue growth of 16 to 18 percent. Global comparable-store-sales growth will remain in the mid-single digits.
Comp-store sales were up 7 percent globally, compared with an estimate of 6.2 percent, according to Consensus Metrix. The same metric came in at 8 percent for the Americas and 11 percent in China/Asia Pacific. All three numbers were a beat compared to consensus estimates by the same firm.
Starbucks' Americas region, which includes the United States, Canada and Latin America, contributes the majority of company revenue. Most of the gains in the key metric were driven by a 4 percent increase in traffic.
"Starbucks Q3 fiscal 2015 stands as among the strongest and most remarkable quarters in our over 23 years as a public company," said CEO Howard Schultz, in a press release. "The 4 percent increase in global transactions we reported equates to our having served an additional 23 million customer occasions in Q3 of this year over last year, clearly evidencing a continuation of the strong momentum we have seen across our business and around the world this fiscal year."
On a conference all later Thursday, Schultz lauded the initial success of its mobile ordering/mobile pay program that it's testing in New York City. "Initial results are nothing short of extraordinary."
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On Thursday, the company also announced an agreement with PepsiCo to distribute Starbucks ready-to-drink beverages to new retailers like supermarkets throughout Latin America. That will include drinks such as the Starbucks Frappuccino, Starbucks Double Shot and Starbucks Refreshers. The rollout will begin in 2016 in select markets, including Chile, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The two companies plan to expand to other markets in Latin America, as well.
—CNBC's Marguerite Ward and Reuters contributed to this report.