Starbucks says it’s confident that new products coming next year -- including a cold foam protein drink, coconut water-based beverages and improved baked goods -- will help turn around the company’s lagging U.S. sales.
In the meantime, slow U.S. demand continues to be a drag on the company’s results.
Seattle-based Starbucks said Tuesday its revenue rose 4% to $9.5 billion in its fiscal third quarter. That was better than the $9.3 billion Wall Street expected, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
But same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, fell 2% in the April-June period. That was a bigger decline than Wall Street expected, and it was the sixth straight quarter that Starbucks reported lower same-store sales.
Same-store sales were up in China, Starbucks’ second-largest market, but they fell 2% in the U.S.
Starbucks is spending heavily to turn that around. One big expense in the quarter was a two-day meeting in Las Vegas, where the company hosted 14,000 store managers and regional leaders.
The company said its adjusted earnings fell 46% to 50 cents per share for the quarter. That was lower than the 65 cents analysts had forecast.