(By Balaseshan) Specialty coffee maker Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX) reported lower than expected quarterly earnings due to high commodity costs and economic headwinds. Further, the company cut fourth quarter earnings forecast, sending its shares down 8.39% in aftermarket.
Earnings were $333.1 million or $0.43 per share for the third quarter, up from $279.1 million or $0.36 per share last year.
Revenue grew 12.7% to $3.304 billion. Analysts had expected a profit of $0.45 per share on revenue of $3.33 billion.
Global comparable store sales increased 6%, driven by a 5% increase in traffic and a 2% rise in average ticket.
Revenue from company-operated stores increased 8.2% to $2.62 billion, while revenue from licensed stores grew 23.9% to $308.2 million. CPG, food service and other revenue jumped 42.7% to $379.8 million.
Revenue for the Americas segment increased 9%, while revenue for the EMEA segment rose 9%. Revenue for the China/Asia Pacific segment climbed 31%.
Channel Development revenue jumped 45% to $316.4 million, primarily due to sales of Starbucks- and Tazo-branded K-Cup portion packs and growth in packaged coffee sales.
Starbucks opened 231 net new stores globally, including its 600th store in mainland China, and its first stores in Finland and Costa Rica.
Looking ahead into the fourth quarter, the company lowered its earnings guidance to range of $0.44 to $0.45 per share from previous forecast of $0.46 to $0.48 per share, while Street predicts $0.48 per share. Starbucks blamed global economic conditions for the lower guidance. The company anticipates revenue growth of 10% to 12%, below Street expectations of 13.90% growth.
For the fiscal 2013, the company initiated earnings guidance of $2.04 to $2.14 per share and revenue growth outlook of 10% to 13%, while Street analysts predict profit of $2.28 per share on revenue growth of 12.40%.
SBUX closed Thursday's regular session up 3.96% at $52.40. The stock has been trading between $33.72 and $62.00 for the past 52 weeks.