I really like coffee. Do you too? Most people like a hot drink, especially in the morning. The caffeine gives one a boost. I'm especially fond of a cappuccino with friends after an early morning run.
One of my favourite away-from-home activities is to run around Central Park in Manhattan, for an hour or more, then stop off at the local Starbucks on East 58th Street (see below) for a takeaway on my way back to my hotel. This of course was from an earlier time (pre-Covid), when I was on business trips to visit our business partner in New York, Ted Weisberg at Seaport Securities.
In any event, we own Starbucks shares for many clients in their US portfolios. It's a well-diversified business, with lots of stores in the US, Europe and China. Many locations offer walk-through or drive-through service, which has been popular in light of all the social distancing going on. They have a great mobile phone app for regular customers, where people pre-order and pick up.
Starbucks sells a premium product that is gaining in popularity. As a consequence, their share price has done well over the past 7 years, which is when we added them to our preferred portfolio. They have doubled in value, from around $50 a share to around $100. They also pay a healthy dividend, of about $2 per share per year.
Oh yes, Starbucks reported quarterly earnings on Tuesday which were in-line with expectations and management's recent guidance. The trends in the numbers were pleasing. This company is a good one to own.