Starbucks Hits New Record High on Q3 Beat

Shares of Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) touched a fresh lifetime high Friday after the coffee chain reported better-than-expected results for fiscal Q3, and issued mostly in line guidance for Q4 and the full year. For the quarter ended June 28, adjusted EPS rose to $0.42 per share from $0.34 a year earlier, beating the analyst consensus on Capital IQ by a penny. GAAP net income attributable to the company rose to $626.7 million or $0.41 per share from $512.6 million or $0.34 per share.Revenues rose 17.5% year-over-year to $4.88 billion, topping expectations of $4.86 billion. Global comparable store sales increased 7%, driven by a 4% increase in traffic; Americas comp sales increased 8%, driven by a 4% increase in traffic; China/Asia Pacific comp sales increased 11%, driven by a 10% increase in traffic; and EMEA comp sales increased 3%, driven by a 2% increase in traffic.For fiscal 2015, earnings are expected at $1.57 to $1.58 per share vs. expectations of $1.58 per share. Revenues are expected at between $19.1 billion to $19.4 billion, in line with the consensus of $19.17 billion. Global comparable store sales growth remains targeted in the mid-single digits. For Q4, EPS is expected at $0.42 to $0.43, vs. expectations of $0.41 per share. In recent trade, SBUX was up over 2% with a new 52-week range of $35.39 to $59.30.