Starbucks Corporation

Starbucks shares move as investors weigh holiday traffic, restructuring charges and renewed labor friction

Investors are parsing Starbucks’ latest quarterly report and management commentary after the company posted a mixed quarter and disclosed sizable fiscal‑2025 restructuring and impairment charges; market reaction reflects concern that holiday sales and labor disruptions could blunt the turnaround plan. Momentum signals from a slight rebound in U.S. traffic and management’s ‘Back to Starbucks’ actions are balancing worries about rising costs and active store-level union actions.

• Quarterly results were mixed: Starbucks reported a modest decline in global comparable-store sales but management cited improving U.S. transaction trends, suggesting early traction from service and staffing initiatives and a possible stabilization in customer traffic.
• Company disclosed roughly $892 million in restructuring and impairment charges tied to fiscal‑2025 actions, which reduces near-term earnings and highlights that the turnaround will carry one-time costs that compress margins in the short term.
• Escalating labor activity — strikes and coordinated actions at roughly 95 stores during the holiday promotional period — is creating operational and headline risk that could pressure holiday comps and complicate labor negotiations even as management pushes service-focused fixes.