Thu Nov 05 10:51:00 -0500 2009

Bloomberg (New York)

- Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop operator, increased its 2010 profit forecast and said fourth-quarter profit jumped as cost cuts expanded margins. The shares rose 3.6 percent in late U.S. trading.

“They’ve found religion as far as expense management, and they’ve taken great strides to right-size their domestic store base,” Tom Forte, a restaurant analyst with Telsey Advisory Group in New York, said in a telephone interview. “If we see a continued period of weakness in consumer spending, I wouldn’t be surprised to see additional cost-cutting moves.”

To view the full article, download the PDF here: Bloomberg, November 5, 2009