Starbucks raises full-year forecast on strong sales

Starbucks Corp reported higher quarterly profit on Thursday, as overall sales at its established coffee shops topped analysts' estimates, and it raised its forecast for fiscal 2013.

Starbucks shares rose 6 percent in after-market trading.

The results were in contrast to others in the restaurant industry, including McDonald's Corp, which have largely been a string of disappointments and diminishing expectations as some of the sector's top performers grapple with the still weak economy and increasing competition from resurgent rivals.

The world's biggest coffee chain's net income was $359 million, or 46 cents per share, for the fiscal fourth-quarter ended Sept. 30, slightly up from $358.5 million, or 47 cents per share a year earlier.

Analysts on average forecast 45 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Global sales at stores open at least 13 months rose 6 percent, helped by a 5 percent increase in traffic and a 1 percent rise in average spending per visit. That topped the 4.97 percent rise analysts polled by Consensus Metrix had expected.

Overall, revenue rose 11 percent to $3.36 billion.

Starbucks set its new earnings per share forecast for fiscal 2013 in the range of $2.06 to $2.15, up from $2.04 to $2.14 per share, previously.

It now plans to open 1,300 net new stores globally, up from 1,200.