Starbucks Earnings: Full Steam Ahead

Source: Starbucks.

Starbucks reported record results for the second quarter of 2015 after the market close today. The coffee titan's earnings matched Wall Street's expectations, and revenue came in slightly above consensus estimates. Investors cheered the news, and as I write this at 5:30 p.m., shares are up 6% in after-hours trading.

Starbucks' revenue surged 18%, to $4.56 billion, slightly above expectations of $4.51 billion. Helping to drive revenue growth higher was a 7% jump in global comparable-store sales, including a 3% increase in traffic. Analysts were expecting only a 5% increase in comps.

Diving deeper into the global comp number, we see a 7% increase in comps for the Americas segment, 2% in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and an impressive 12% jump in CAP (China and Asia Pacific). The strong CAP comps are a particularly good sign, as Starbucks plans to double its stores in the region to 10,000 during the next five years.

Further fueling revenue growth were 210 net new-store openings during the quarter, and 1,511 during the past year, bringing Starbucks' total cafe count to 22,088. Starbucks' channel development segment also delivered solid results, with revenue growing 16%, to $428 million. In addition, Starbucks completed its acquisition of Starbucks Japan during the second quarter, further boosting results.

Consolidated operating income grew 21%, to $777.5 million, boosted by a 40 basis-point improvement in operating margin, to 17%. That improvement was despite the 100 basis-point impact of the acquisition of Starbucks Japan, which was more than offset by the operating leverage gained from higher sales at Starbucks' cafes and channel development division.

Also of note is that total active membership of the My Starbucks Rewards program now stands at 10.3 million, with Starbucks adding a record 1.3 million new members during the second quarter. That, in turn, helped Starbucks record $1.1 billion in Starbucks Card loads during the quarter.

Combined, these factors helped drive second-quarter earnings per share up an impressive 18% year over year to $0.33, matching consensus estimates.

Looking further ahead, as we Fools like to do, Starbucks remains a Tier 1 enterprise, and a tremendous long-term growth story. Few businesses exist today that are as dominant within their industries as Starbucks, yet still have so much growth that still lies ahead. From emerging market expansion to exciting opportunities in massive markets such as tea and packaged goods -- as well as the upcoming launch of its likely-to-be-very-popular new delivery service -- I believe that Starbucks' impressive growth is set to continue for years, and potentially even decades, to come.

Looking ahead, management reaffirmed its projections for full-year revenue growth of 16% to 18%, driven by "mid-single digits" global comparable-store sales growth and 1,650 net new stores openings. Management also expects full-year earnings per share in the range of $1.77 to $1.79, including third-quarter EPS of $0.39 to $0.40, and fourth-quarter EPS in the range of $0.40 to $0.41.

The article Starbucks Earnings: Full Steam Ahead originally appeared on Fool.com.

Joe Tenebruso isportfolio manager ofTier 1 Investments, a Motley FoolReal-Money Portfolio.You can connect with him on Twitter@Tier1Investor. Joehas the following options: short January 2017 $100 puts on Starbucks and long January 2017 $97.5 puts on Starbucks.The Motley Fool recommends Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of Starbucks. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.