After Chairman Howard Schultz famous critical interoffice memo, many watchers had dismissed Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) as a growth-story has-been, nothing more than a fast-food chain whose brand was losing its vigor and for which commoditization was imminent. And then, the stock price fell. And we started to wonder: is Starbucks a bargain? Is Starbucks a has-been that could-be-so-much-more? At today's annual shareholder meeting, Schultz attempted to work up the crowd into a frenzy of belief, reiterating the chain's 40,000 store goal and said the company was planning to "build more in the future than we have in the past."And, says Schultz, "there's never been a better time to be a Starbucks shareholder." Especially if you've just purchased the stock this week, around $29.50, and not at its 52-week high of nearly $40.
Yes, there's never been a better time to buy Starbucks stock -- at around $32, even after its 2%+ rise today, the stock seems a great price if Schultz' projections are right. At 41x earnings, but a more-than-doubling of stores (and, one would hope, earnings) planned in the next decade, this is a great time to be a Starbucks buyer.
As long as you didn't buy in November or May 2006, it may be a great time to be an owner. I'll let you owners decide for sure.
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