SEATTLE Spurred by the opening of 560 units during its second quarter, Starbucks Corp. posted an 18.5-percent jump in profit on revenues that rose 19.6 percent from the same quarter of a year earlier, to $2.26 billion.
For the three-month period ended April 1, net income totaled $150.8 million, or 19 cents per share, up from year-ago profit of $127.3 million, or 16 cents per share.
Total revenues were driven by store openings and same-store sales growth of 4 percent at units already open for more than a year. The same-store sales result was at the lower end of the company's 3-percent-to-7-percent target for sustained comparable sales growth, but was hampered by a comparison to the fiscal 2006 second quarter when same-store sales increased 10 percent, the company reported.
Starbucks, which operates or licenses 13,728 units worldwide, said it would open a total of 2,400 locations in the current fiscal year, including 1,700 units in the United States. It expects full-year revenue to grow by 20 percent from the year earlier, and annual per-share earnings to total between 87 cents and 89 cents. The company earned 73 cents per share in its fiscal year 2006.
Starbucks also reported its board had authorized on May 1 the repurchase of up to 25 million shares of its common stock, in addition to the 1.1 million shares that remain available for purchase under the company's previous authorization.