Starbucks Shares Rise as U.S. Sales Offset Inflation, China Woes

  • Guidance is suspended for rest of year on China uncertainty
  • Company commits $1 billion to worker pay, store improvements

Howard Schultz

Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg 

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Starbucks Corp.’s U.S. operations beat expectations in the coffee chain’s latest quarter, giving interim Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz a welcome development even as he contends with high inflation and Chinese Covid measures that hurt performance there.

Robust demand pushed the key gauge of U.S. comparable sales to 12%, higher than analysts’ average estimates. Customer purchases rose during the quarter, which ended April 3, and the average amount per transaction also increased.