Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) on Tuesday reported soaring cold drink sales in the United States, fueling an earnings and revenue beat for the company.
But the coffee chain also warned of a slower recovery in China, its second-largest market. It lowered its full-year forecast for the country’s same-store sales growth, despite raising its overall outlook for fiscal 2021 earnings per share.
The coffee giant reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $1.15 billion, or 97 cents per share, up from a net loss of $678.4 million, or 58 cents per share a year earlier.
Excluding restructuring costs and other items, Starbucks earned $1.01 per share, topping the 78 cents per share expected by analysts.
Net sales rose 78% to $7.5 billion, beating expectations of $7.29 billion. Worldwide, same-store sales surged 73%. A year ago, the company’s global same-store sales plummeted 40% during the quarter as the global pandemic prompted in lockdowns in some regions.
In the U.S., Starbucks’ largest market, same-store sales climbed 83%. On a two-year basis, the market’s same-store sales rose 10%. Nearly three-quarters of the company’s drink sales came from cold beverages, like its Nitro cold brew. Over half of all sales came from loyalty program members.
Outside of the U.S., Starbucks’ same-store sales jumped 41%, fueled by 55% growth in customer traffic.
However, executives said that COVID’s resurgence in Japan, which led to a declaration of a state of emergency, hurt traffic there during the quarter.
China reported same-store sales growth of 19%. A year ago, the country’s same-store sales fell 19%.
SBUX shares slumped $3.72, or 3%, to $122.31.
