Starbucks said on Tuesday it sees sales in China, the company’s biggest growth market, recovering by the end of September, following a massive drop in same-store sales in the current quarter on fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which forced Starbucks to close stores around the globe, reported by Reuters.
Seattle-based Starbucks reported a 10% fall in global same-store sales for its fiscal second quarter ended March 29. Analysts had forecast a 9.71% decline, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Starbucks forecast a drop in comparable sales in China in their current third quarter of between 25% and 35%, followed by a decline in fourth-quarter same-store sales of as much as 10% before ending roughly flat by the end of the fiscal year in September. For the full year, China same-store sales are seen decreasing 15% to 25%.
“People are going to look at that (China forecast) as an indication of what they may have to face in the US, since China got hit first,” said Tony Scherrer, director of research and portfolio manager at Smead Capital Management, which owns Starbucks shares.
