Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) released its earnings numbers for the first three months of 2014 on Thursday afternoon after the bell rang on Wall Street. The company showed earnings per share of $0.56 for the quarter it records as its second of fiscal 2014. Revenue in the period came in at $3.9 billion. On Thursday’s market, shares in Starbucks trended upward and finished the day at $71.09.
Analysts following Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) were looking for the company to show strong growth in the second quarter of 2014. The 26 analysts surveyed by Businessweek were looking for earnings of 56 cents per share from the company by consensus. Revenue was expected to come in at $4 billion.
Starbucks sales grow stronger
Starbucks has made incredible inroads at monetizing what was once an unattractive business. The local coffee store was not the investment that many financial wizards imagined would work out when Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) began its business, but today the company’s model is one of the gold standards in consumer services and it continues to grow beyond the bounds its business would appear to set.
Starbucks Corporation (NASAQ:SBUX) shares have been growing aggressively in recent years, and the company appears constantly ready to enter new markets in order to spur sales increases. The most recent business pushed by management has been the breakfast trade. A business McDonald’s dominated for years may soon belong in part to Starbucks, and the company’s plans seem to run deeper than that.
Geography is another factor that Starbucks Corporation (NYSE:SBUX) seems to disregard as it seeks to grow. The company has been maintaining a high rate of growth in the Asia-Pacific region, with the most important market set in China, and the company’s efforts are now returning a significant portion of its revenue. That market is not mature just yet, but Starbucks is doing its best to be in position as it evolves.
Momentum bust breaks Starbucks
The wave of negativity that drove the price of many growth stocks downward in the opening months of 2014 was felt fairly strongly by Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) shareholders. The firm’s shares lost close to 10% of their value in the first months of 2014, and their trajectory remained inconsistent through most of the year.
That correction won’t hurt the pockets of those that held Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) stock through 2013 all that much. The company’s shares have gained a total of 18.5% in the last twelve months and close to 35% since the beginning of last year. The firm’s current momentum problems are enough to irk short term holders, however, and some investors are surely nervous about the 460 times 2013 earnings the company’s stock trades for.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is a hugely risky bet given the mass of its valuation. The company is not an investment for the risk-averse, though it may be attractive for some investors. Momentum is a dangerous thing to rely on, however, and it’ll be a long time before Starbucks fundamentals catch up to its valuation.
