Starbucks 3Q numbers

Starbucks. Coffee. Love it. Everyone started somewhere, as we pointed out, the company started with one store in Seattle, Washington State all the way across on the West Coast of the US in 1971, by the time they listed 21 years later in 1992, they had only 165 odd stores. Currently there were 22,519 stores as at the end of the last quarter, a total of 431 net store openings in the last quarter.

Howard Schultz, a Brooklyn native who grew up in a very much middle class neighbourhood, bought Starbucks for 3.8 million Dollars in 1986, having captured the brand he had worked for. I must read the biography, it is from 2011. I am a firm believer that a company of this nature needs someone who is tough as nails and never strays from that path, that desire to succeed and deliver the best product and service. In this case the same quality cup of joe day in and day out. Schultz has made more than one comeback, and has written two books about it too, one called Onward (2011) and another called Pour Your Heart Into It (1999).

The company employs over 300 thousand "partners", Schultz in the chairmans letter from last year refers to them as the cornerstone of the company who don the green apron daily. It is true to say that the experience at a Starbucks is one that you take with you. Whilst you need not have any previous experience in order to be a barista at Starbucks, it is recommended that you are a quick learner.

I found this old BusinessInsider piece: Why Working At Starbucks For Three Weeks Was The Toughest Job I've Ever Had. The difference between ordering a burger at McDonalds or Burger King and a coffee at Starbucks is possibly in the careers segment explanation: "Their work goes beyond handcrafting a perfectly made beverage; it's about creating a human connection with every customer." Coffee is more personal than food, seemingly.

Enough of that. I for one am excited that Taste are bringing the company to our shores. Here are the results in brief, as per the company release: Starbucks Delivers Record Quarterly Revenue of $4.9 Billion and Record Q3 EPS. I guess the headline tells it all. Whilst the stock is expensive, it trades on a 33 multiple, the market seems to be OK with the revenue growth rates and more importantly outlook.

This was hands down, as per Schultz's comments "Starbucks Q3 fiscal 2015 stands as among the strongest and most remarkable quarters in our over 23 years as a public company .. .. having served an additional 23 million customer occasions in Q3 of this year over last year, clearly evidencing a continuation of the strong momentum we have seen across our business and around the world this fiscal year."

We continue to expect double digit revenue growth, earnings could top 2 Dollars next year. At 59 Dollars (more or less where the stock is going to open), this means that the market is always expecting big things from this company. 30 times forward. We continue to own this stock, and whilst the upside is not as much as before inside of the next 12 odd months, we continue to accumulate this company on weakness.