Will Starbucks (SBUX) be Able to Generate Double-Digit EPS Growth?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Multi Cap Growth Strategy” second quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, mega cap companies remained popular, with optimism about generative AI extending their gains in a historically narrow market. The ClearBridge Multi Cap Growth Strategy has limited mega-cap exposure, which has recently hampered relative performance and the strategy underperformed the Russell 3000 Growth Index benchmark during the quarter. The strategy recorded gains across four of the seven sectors in which it was invested on an absolute basis. IT sector was the primary contributor to the performance while the consumer discretionary sector detracted. Overall stock selection and sector allocation detracted from performance relative to the benchmark. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.

ClearBridge Multi Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) in the second quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) roasts, markets, and sells specialty coffee. On September 13, 2023, Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) stock closed at $96.93 per share. One-month return of Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) was 0.37%, and its shares gained 5.11% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) has a market capitalization of $111.024 billion.

ClearBridge Multi Cap Growth Strategy made the following comment about Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) in its Q2 2023 investor letter:

“Top heavy leadership has overshadowed weakness across much of the equity market. We took advantage of the narrow breadth in the second quarter to increase our exposure to the consumer discretionary sector with two purchases that further enhance portfolio diversification and should help support consistent performance through a full cycle.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is the leading provider of specialty coffee beverages, operating close to 19,000 global stores primarily in North America, China and Japan and 37,000 licensed partner locations. We view Starbucks as a quality compounder with strong free cash flow, operating in a segment and in dayparts that are very much routine-based and habitual, balancing the business’s exposure to discretionary spending. Additionally, Starbucks is still in the early stages of its reinvention plan to help accelerate revenue growth over the next several years on the back of better same store sales and unit growth. Coupled with the benefits of margin expansion, we believe the company can drive double-digit EPS growth at scale.”

Starbucks, Coffee

Photo by Karlo Tottoc on Unsplash

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 59 hedge fund portfolios held Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) at the end of second quarter which was 69 in the previous quarter.

We discussed Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) in another article and shared the list of most valuable brands in the world in 2023. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.