Holidays and a viral bear cup drive strong quarterly sales at Starbucks

Starbucks reported strong fiscal first quarter as holiday drinks and a viral bear cup helped drive sales.

Same-store sales – or sales at locations open at least a year – rose 4% for the October-December period. That was higher than the 2.3% that Wall Street was expecting, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Same-store sales in the U.S. were also up 4%, with a 3% increase in transactions and a 1% increase in spending per visit. That was the best U.S. performance for the company in two years.

Shares of the Seattle coffee giant jumped more than 6% before the opening bell Wednesday.

Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said the results were evidence that the company’s turnaround plan is taking hold. Over the last year, Starbucks has been adding staff and equipment to stores to ensure faster and friendlier service and better sequence its mobile orders.

Starbucks is also adding seating and updating stores to make them cozier and more welcoming. Niccol said around 200 stores have been redecorated so far and more than 1,000 will get that treatment by this fall.

“We have a plan, we are working the plan, and the plan is working,” Niccol said Wednesday during a conference call with investors. “The shine is back on our brand, both in the U.S. and around the world.”

Niccol warned that the turnaround may not be linear. But the company does expect to turn around lagging sales this year. Starbucks said it expects global same-store sales and revenue to grow 3% or more in its 2026 fiscal year. Starbucks’ global same-store sales fell 1% in its previous fiscal year.

Niccol said Starbucks delivered record revenue during its holiday launch week. One “Lucky Strike extra,” Niccol said, was the $29.95 glass Bearista cups, which sold out almost immediately after they were introduced. On Wednesday, an authentic Bearista cup was selling for $119.99 on eBay.

U.S. traffic was up despite a strike by more than 1,000 unionized Starbucks workers, who hoped to disrupt Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, which is typically one of the company’s busiest days of the year. Since 2018, Starbucks has given out free, reusable cups on that day to customers who buy a holiday drink. The strike closed some stores, but only briefly.

Some U.S. stores also gained customers after Starbucks closed nearly 600 stores in North America in September. The company said it was closing the stores to focus its resources on better performers.

Starbucks also had a strong quarter in China, where same-store sales were up 7%.

In November, Starbucks announced it was forming a joint venture with Chinese investment firm Boyu Capital to operate Starbucks stores in China. Under the agreement, Boyu will acquire a 60% interest in Starbucks’ retail operations in China, which is valued at $4 billion. Starbucks will retain a 40% interest in the joint venture and will own and license the Starbucks brand.

Revenue rose 6% to $9.9 billion for the quarter, also beating Wall Street expectations for $9.65 billion.

Starbucks said its margins have been pressured by investments in labor as well as tariffs on coffee. But some of those costs should abate as this year progresses, Chief Financial Officer Cathy Smith said. In November, President Donald Trump announced he was scrapping U.S. tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruits and a broad swath of other commodities.

Adjusted for one-time items, Starbucks earned 56 cents per share in the quarter. That was lower than the 59-cent profit Wall Street was expecting.