Coffee giant Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) reported its latest earnings numbers last week. Although the company's revenue of $8.7 billion for the period ending Jan. 1 beat analyst expectation, Starbucks' adjusted per-share earnings of $0.74 missed Wall Street estimates by three cents.
It would have been a much better quarter for Starbucks if not for its international segment, where sales declined by 13% from the prior-year period. And a big reason why was China, where comparable sales were down by a massive 29% as the country's restrictive zero-COVID policy has been negatively impacting the business.
But the good news is that China has loosened restrictions, which should mean a better performance by Starbucks there in future quarters. And in its home market, the U.S., Starbucks' same-store sales were up an impressive 10% year over year.
Starbucks' resiliency is impressive and suggests that inflation isn't having a big impact on the business, and that the stock may be a good buy even amid the current economic headwinds. However, it's trading around its 52-week highs and isn't cheap -- it trades at nearly 40 times earnings.
Last year, shares of Starbucks fell 15% as it performed slightly better than the S&P 500 (it fell by 19%). Starbucks has been off to a solid start to 2023, with the stock rising 10% heading into the release of the company's earnings report. In addition to being a potentially resilient stock to invest in this year, Starbucks also pays a modest dividend yield of 2%. Although it's a bit expensive, Starbucks could be one of the better consumer goods stocks to own this year.
