Starbucks Q3 Profit Tops Estimate; Boosts FY13 EPS Outlook

(RTTNews) - Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) reported net income for the third quarter of $417.8 million or $0.55 per share, compared to $333.1 million or $0.43 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Total net revenues for the third quarter increased 13% to $3.74 billion from $3.30 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.53 per share on revenue of $3.72 billion for the third quarter.

Global same-store sales grew 8% driven by 7% growth in traffic.

Looking forward, the company forecast fourth quarter earnings per share in the range of $0.59 to $0.60, which includes a $0.03 gain on the fourth quarter sale of Starbucks equity in Argentina and Chile. Analysts currently expect earnings o $0.57 per share.

The company now expects full year fiscal 2013 earnings per share in the range of $2.22 to $2.23, up from its prior guidance of $2.12 to $2.18 per share.

For the fiscal year 2014, the company forecasts revenue growth of about 10% to 13% and earnings per share in the range of $2.55 to $2.65, excluding combined gains of $0.06 per share in FY13 on the sale of Starbucks equity in Mexico, Argentina and Chile.

Analysts currently expect the company to earn $2.19 per share for the fiscal year 2013 and $2.64 per share for the fiscal year 2014.