Starbucks Stock (NASDAQ:SBUX) Slips as Company Fights to Save Coffee Supply Chain Future
Another day, another supply chain crisis hitting legacy retail stocks.
The Coffee Conundrum
Starbucks shares are feeling the heat as supply chain pressures threaten the very beans that fuel their global empire. The NASDAQ ticker shows red while management scrambles to secure future coffee supplies—because nothing says 'premium coffee experience' like existential sourcing threats.
Wall Street's Bitter Brew
Investors are waking up to the harsh reality that even the mightiest retail chains can't escape global supply disruptions. The stock slip serves as yet another reminder that traditional equities remain vulnerable to physical world constraints—something digital asset investors haven't lost sleep over since, well, ever.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency markets continue operating 24/7 without worrying about coffee bean shipments or physical supply chains. Maybe that's why decentralized finance doesn't need to 'save' its future—it's already building it.
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One such effort to preserve the future of coffee is under way in Costa Rica, where Starbucks’ Hacienda Alsacia is located. The head of research and development for agronomy and farmer support there, Carlos Mario Rodriguez, has been working for the last few decades to improve coffee trees, and seems all too willing to hand over seed samples to most anyone who asks. This includes, in a story Rodriguez recounted, one farmer who followed Rodriguez in his car for 15 minutes just for the chance to ask.
Coffee is an oddly fragile crop. There are entire areas that may one day no longer be suitable for growing coffee. Sudden taste changes can take place; at one point, a farmer’s crop reportedly came up tasting like potatoes, which is definitely not the flavor profile anyone wants out of a cup of coffee in the morning. Starbucks has also established Farmer Support Centers worldwide, as well as several “model farms,” to help deliver coffee not only to Starbucks, but also to providers around the world. Preserving coffee, after all, goes beyond one cafe.
Pumpkin Spice Meets its Match?
This time of year is increasingly being called “Pumpkin Spice season.” Sure, some stick to “spooky season” and others to “fall,” but for fans of the drink, this is the time of year for it. As it turns out, though, one hidden menu item is proving even more compelling than the Pumpkin Spice Latte: the Pumpkin Spice Matcha Latte.
The actual construction of a Pumpkin Spice Matcha Latte is fairly involved; instructions are available online, or the drink can be ordered through the app’s “Offers” tab. But reports note the combination of the sweeter elements with the slightly bitter matcha offers an unusual and eye-opening experience that is worth a try in and of itself.
Is Starbucks Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on SBUX stock based on 14 Buys, six Holds and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 10.38% loss in its share price over the past year, the average SBUX price target of $102.10 per share implies 19.61% upside potential.
Disclosure
