Starbucks Stock Stumbles After Company Reports Weak Preliminary Results, Suspends Guidance

Starbucks Corp SBUX shares are cooling off in Tuesday’s after-hours session after the coffee giant reported weak preliminary results and suspended its guidance.

What Happened: Starbucks reported preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter after the market close on Tuesday showing that it expects consolidated net revenues to decline 3% and global comparable sales to fall 7%. Starbucks also said it anticipates earnings of 80 cents per share, down 25% year-over-year.

“Given the company’s CEO transition coupled with the current state of the business, guidance will be suspended for the full fiscal year 2025. This will allow ample opportunity to complete an assessment of the business and solidify key strategies, while stabilizing and positioning the business for long-term growth,” the company said.

Ahead of the pre-announcement, analysts were expecting Starbucks to report fourth-quarter earnings of $1.03 per share and revenue of $9.375 billion, according to estimates from Benzinga Pro.

Starbucks still plans to release its audited fourth-quarter results after the market close on Oct. 30.

Starbucks said its results were primarily impacted by softness in North America revenues in the quarter, specifically a 6% decline in U.S. comparable store sales, which was driven by a 10% decline in comparable transactions. Additionally, China comps fell 14%, driven by an 8% decline in average ticket and a 6% decline in comparable transactions.

“Despite our heightened investments, we were unable to change the trajectory of our traffic decline, resulting in pressures in both our top-line and bottom-line. While our efficiency efforts continued to produce according to plan, they were not enough to outpace the impact of the decline in traffic,” commented Rachel Ruggeri, CFO of Starbucks.

“We are developing a plan to turn around our business, but it will take time. We want to amplify our confidence in the business, and provide some certainty as we drive our turnaround. For that reason, we have increased our dividend.”

From Last Week: Starbucks Shifts Strategy: Fewer Deals, More Focus on Quality Coffee and Holiday Favorites

Starbucks board approved an increase in the company’s quarterly cash dividend from 57 cents to 61 cents per share. The next dividend will be payable on Nov. 29 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 15.

“Our fourth quarter performance makes it clear that we need to fundamentally change our strategy so we can get back to growth and that’s exactly what we are doing with our ‘Back to Starbucks’ plan,” said Brian Niccol, chairman and CEO of Starbucks.

“We are energized and the team is already moving quickly. I’ll share more details at our upcoming earnings call, but invite you to listen to my initial thoughts on our investor relations website.”

Niccol officially took over at Starbucks in September. October marks his first full month as the coffee giant’s chief. Niccol previously served as Chipotle's CEO and chairman of the board. Chipotle shares more than tripled over the last five years under Niccol's leadership.

SBUX Price Action: Starbucks shares were down 3.57% at $93.36 after-hours at the time of publication Tuesday, per Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Shutterstock.