Starbucks Rallies On Robust Earnings, Dividend Increase

Shares of Starbucks Corp. climbed in Thursday's extended session after the coffee retailer posted better-than-expected earnings and announced a dividend hike. Starbucks reported its fourth-quarter earnings rose to $801 million, or 54 cents a share, from $652.5 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the coffeehouse chain would have earned 56 cents a share. Revenue grew 16% to $5.71 billion while same-store sales, an important retail metric, increased 4% globally. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 55 cents a share on revenue of $5.69 billion. The company also announced the board raised the quarterly dividend by 25% to 25 cents a share. Starbucks' stock gained nearly 3% after hours.