Thursday, August 13, 2009

The second rise of Starbucks

Starbucks’ stock dipped as low as $7, maybe $6 a share in November of 2008. My measly shares in the company were ruined, as I bought them back in the day with an employee discount at $22/share. Luckily, I wasn’t planning on selling them, but it was still a bit disheartening to see such a high percentage loss. I can’t imagine what this past year has been like for people watching a lifetime of savings do the same thing. For me, the Starbucks’ stock has been my microcosm of the recession.

No matter how ugly Starbucks’ stock looked, I remained hopeful that the brain trust at Starbucks (aka Howard Schultz) would turn things around. Couple this with a firsthand account of how crazy Americans are when it comes to getting their Starbucks every single day, no matter what the economy is doing, and I am left with a confidence in that low share price to come crawling back from the abyss. And it has. Today, Starbucks was up $0.41/share and closed at $19.64/share, up from $12/share as recently as late June.

I don’t expect the stock to reach its heyday levels of $42/share, but I do see it rising above $22/share. When it does, I am not going to sell right away because I have faith in America’s addiction to Starbucks, even with McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts in the ring.

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