Beverage Highlights: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR)’s Award, Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) CEO Howard Schultz & Sodastream International Ltd (SODA)

Editor’s Note: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR), Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA), Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)

Green Mountain wins 2013 Importer of the Year award (Business Examiner)
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR), with a West Coast foothold in Sumner, has been named the 2013 Importer of the Year by World Trade Center Tacoma. “We’ve grown phenomenally over the last 32 years,” said John Rader, director of operations at the company’s Sumner plant. “We started off as a single coffee shop in Waitsfield, Vt., and grew to the biggest single coffee cup provider for both machines and portion packs in the United States.”

Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA)

Is Howard Schultz of Starbucks the best CEO ever? (CNN)
With all due respect to the late Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Sam Walton and Ray Kroc, Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) CEO Howard Schultz may be the best CEO ever. Sure, the former heads of Apple (AAPL), Ford (F), Wal-Mart (WMT) and McDonald’s (MCD) are all legends. And it’s admittedly silly to try and compare executives from different eras. It’s the equivalent of a bunch of drunks at a bar yelling at each other about whether Peyton Manning or Tom Brady is better than Hall of Famers Johnny Unitas or Joe Montana. But hear me out. Schultz, like Jobs, returned to a company that was in trouble and totally resurrected it.

Apple Sours But There’s Tasty Action In Starbucks, Chipotle And Biotech (Forbes)
There has been a lot of nice movement in various sectors and various momentum names with nice set-ups in the food and beverage stocks. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) and Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) are the winners in this food and beverage group, as CMG had some nice upside follow-through to put in a new high of $423.49 yesterday. SBUX also soared to a new high at $75.50. It’s prudent to take some profits after a three-day move, but overall these charts look good and could see continuation after some digestion. Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) had a nice break out at $63.10 to get above the short-term downtrend resistance that was in control for two weeks or so. The stock is flagging nicely and looks poised to potentially make a move higher above $66.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Price Target Increased to $75.00 by Analysts at Janney Montgomery Scott (GMCR) (Zolmax)
Research analysts at Janney Montgomery Scott upped their price target on shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report released on Wednesday, AnalystRatings.Net reports. Janney Montgomery Scott’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 11.76% from the stock’s previous close. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters traded up 1.46% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $85.00. The stock had a trading volume of 3,398,176 shares. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) has a 1-year low of $21.33 and a 1-year high of $89.66.

Vegans petition Starbucks to change pumpkin spice latte recipe (CBC.ca)
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX)’s pumpkin spice latte is full of — you guessed it — pumpkin and spice flavours. But despite sounding relatively vegan-friendly, the latte mix is chock full of condensed milk. This has sparked vegans to petition the company to change the recipe of the highly-popular drink. When September hits, the seasonal latte — lovingly known as the “PSL” by its fans — starts getting some major love. Chances are, if you have a friend who loves Starbucks, you will have seen an increase in comments about and photos of pumpkin-flavoured drinks online.

Innovation Will Help This Coffee Company (DailyFinance)
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) recently announced that it has partnered with Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) to make soup K-cups for Keurig machines. The cups will brew chicken broth and come with a packet of vegetables and noodles to mix in with the soup. Green Mountain has been looking at non-coffee beverages like energy drinks and teas to make Keurig more than just a coffee maker, but this is the first food option that the company has mentioned. According to CEO Brian Kelly, Keurig users already use the machine to add hot water to dried soup mixes and already think of the machines as “soup makers.”

Recommended Reading:

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR), Campbell Soup Company (CPB): Soup’s Up

Starbucks Corporation (SBUX), McDonald’s Corporation (MCD), Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM): A Global Growth Story

PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP), Sodastream International Ltd (SODA): How This Small Company Plans to Replace The Coca-Cola Company (KO)