Starbucks stock rallies as results top expectations, helped by a boost in U.S. sales

Same-store sales rose 7% worldwide, helped largely by bigger ticket sizes, even as actual transaction volume remained muted. They were up 11% in the U.S. But international same-store sales fell 5%, with a 16% drop in China.

Excluding restructuring, impairment and other costs, Starbucks
SBUX,
+0.12%
earned 81 cents per share, compared with 99 cents a year earlier.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected Starbucks to report adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents, on revenue of $8.323 billion. Same-store sales were expected to rise 4.2%. U.S. members of its loyalty program who were active for three months rose 16% to 28.7 million.

“We saw accelerating demand for Starbucks coffee around the world in Q4 and throughout the year,” interim Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in a statement.

Shares rose 3.3% after hours.

As with other restaurants and retailers, Starbucks’ sales this year have been helped by price increases. Analysts have also said higher-income consumers, who might not mind higher prices as much, as well as demand for cold beverages, have propelled demand. While China’s COVID-19 restrictions have weighed on sales, analysts say demand trends are strong elsewhere.

“The U.S. business is humming, and the China risk is increasingly understood,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan wrote in a recent research note.

The earnings report comes as Starbucks battles a nascent unionization push at some of its stores. Some bargaining efforts between the company and the union members have stalled, amid allegations from both of bad-faith negotiations. The company over the past year has raised employee pay and rolled out other incentives at non-union stores.

Starbucks stock has tumbled 27% so far this year. The S&P 500 Index
SPX,
-1.06%,
by comparison, is down around 22%.