Is Starbucks ready to run?

Yesterday, June 5, marked an important day for Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) as it launched the new Paul McCartney CD Memory Almost Full. Starbucks has the exclusive distribution for this new work of art by the former Beatle. The results should lift Starbucks same-store sales for June and July. It's a shot in the arm that Starbucks could certainly use.

I visited four different Starbucks stores in the greater Minneapolis area yesterday, and yes, I drank four different cups of coffee. I bought only one CD, however. I spoke with the managers of each store and asked about the CD's sales so far on the first day. Three of the stores sold 12 or more units, and the fourth store sold 10. My unofficial survey ended at 7 p.m. as I figured it was time for some decaf.

If these four Minneapolis, Minnesota stores are any indication of the rest of the Starbucks system, then the all important same-store sales metrics may see a good month or two. As a point of reference, the four stores sell about 4-5 CDs per day of various artists. Obviously, the exclusivity of Paul McCartney is a huge selling advantage for Starbucks.The four stores were also playing the CD all-day long for customers' pleasure.

One store manager was concerned about running out of supply by the weekend -- a nice problem to have. The Starbucks customer cards were also covered with the new McCartney CD versus the standard Starbucks logo. The early results will be interesting to hear when they are officially released in a couple of weeks time. Starbucks needs to beat the June quarter expectations to get the shares going again. The stock has been caught in a tight trading range, between $28-32 these past 3-4 months.

Starbucks is a tremendous long term growth story currently stuck in neutral. The McCartney CD may be just what the doctor ordered.

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research where he explores more growth stock ideas.