Starbucks and Whole Foods to Open Near 52-Week Highs

Lots of stocks hit 52-week highs yesterday as the markets rose. Among them were leading coffee shop operator Starbucks SBUX and organic foods purveyor Whole Foods WFM. They reached $42.98 and $74.00 per share, respectively, in Monday's trading session. Last week Starbucks announced the launch of job creation fund aimed at small businesses throughout the country. The company also recently introduced a line of blonde-roast coffees. Seattle-based Starbucks operates more than 16,800 stores in some 50 countries. It has a market cap of $31.7 billion and was founded in 1971. Its long-term EPS growth forecast is 17.1% and the dividend yield is 1.2%. The P/E ratio is higher than the industry average but so are its operating margins. Starbucks has a return on equity of 29.7%. The share price has increased more than 33% since the beginning of the year. The stock has outperformed competitors Dunkin' Brands DNKN and McDonald's MCD over the past six months. Whole Foods saw its price target raised to $90 per share by one analyst last week on expectations of strong same-store sales growth and the opening of new stores. Revenues are expected to be up 14.6% in the current year. Austin, Tex.-based Whole Foods has a $12.7 billion market cap and it operates 302 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, offering natural and organic foods and household products. Whole Foods has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Its P/E ratio is greater than the industry average, but so is the operating margin. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 17.7%. The share price has increased more than 86% over the past year and is up more than 9% in the past week. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has outperformed supermarket operators Kroger KR and Safeway SWY.