Starbucks (SBUX - option chain) shares are rising today after the company's CEO, Howard Schultz spoke at a conference about how SBUX is planning to buy other firms to help increase its sales of products in grocery stores. SBUX recently scrapped a contract with Kraft (KFT), who had previously provided Starbucks products to grocery stores. SBUX thinks the consumer packaged goods business should grow faster than its retail cafes. Investors are also enthused about the company's plan to expand its Chinese presence. by If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on SBUX.

SBUX opened this morning at $31.01. So far today the stock has hit a low of $20.95 and a high of $31.79. As of 12:10, SBUX is trading at $31.78 up $1.18 (3.8%). The chart for SBUX looks neutral and S&P gives SBUX a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Just a couple of days ago I was singing the praises of Starbucks's (SBUX) technical performance. In fact, I may still be on the verge of turning a bullish corner when it comes to the stock, but then I hear reports the company is test-marketing a blueberry waffle that costs $2.50.

For the record, this price is not for a plate of waffles, but for one waffle. A single, blueberry waffle (perhaps looking quite a bit like this waffle, which is labeled as caramel, for $2.50. Yes, $2.50. Call me cheap (it won't be the first time, or the last), but that seems like a lot of money for one waffle -- especially considering that a box of 10 frozen waffles is roughly $5. Consider this, McDonald's (MCD) charges a dollar for a sausage McMuffin (sausage and cheese on an English muffin). My guess is that the MCD's offering is a bit more filling than what appears to be a cookie masquerading as a waffle.

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OK, being realistic, there are some gifts to consider. Let's take a look:

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I have had my problem with Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Howard "Schultzie" Schultz in the past, but his latest little stunt has really ticked me off.

First things first, I will enjoy the occasional cup of Starbucks coffee, but the price has put a venti mocha-frappa-latte-chino out of my budget so I have started making my own at home. The company's product is good, but its competitors -- namely McDonald's (MCD) and Dunkin' Donuts -- offer a comparable product at a fraction of the price. I have long thought that Starbucks' saturation business model has been its biggest fault, with Schultzie's leadership running a close second.

One of the best ways for your business to get exposure and credibility is through public relations. Yet, hiring a PR firm can be expensive, easily running $5,000 to $10,000 per month.

Despite this, it's possible to do PR on your own. Keep in mind that a key to success is having an active and passionate founder or CEO who makes media relations a priority. This has been the case with many great leaders, such as Howard Schultz at Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) and Marc Benioff at Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM).

So, let's take a look at some of the steps you can take to improve your PR.

Via, the new instant coffee product from Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX), is making its debut Tuesday on the national stage.

The powdered java was already available in select markets, but the so-called ready brew is now being rolled out to all of the coffee chain's U.S. locations -- and CEO Howard Schultz promises it "will change the way people drink coffee."

Well, what took them so long? Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is going to start offering instant coffee for $1 a cup next week. Apparently, the new instant product has been in the development pipeline for roughly 20 years. Yes, 20 years ladies and gents. Old Howard Schultz and his java minions have been sitting on this earth-shattering release for 20 years. Trust them, this $1 cup of coffee has nothing to do with challenges from the likes of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) or Dunkin' Donuts. Nor does this new product have anything to do with the company's financial struggles.

Of course, you can't saunter into one of your five local Starbucks emporiums and order up a $1 cup of coffee, you have to buy three packs of the instant coffee for $2.95 (according to The Wall Street Journal) or $9.95 for a pack of 12. At that price, I would be willing to try this new coffee creation named Via.
The caffeine king contends that the instant coffee market remains a $17 billion global market, and it is now trying to find its niche in that world.

Former high-flyer Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) put a coffee shop on every street corner during the time of easy credit. The pure saturation strategy had no basis in demand.

Instead, the company rode the wave of Wall Street, believing in its own omnipotence. Books were written about the supposed greatness of company founder Howard Schultz.

It was enough to make anyone sick. Of course, no one cared when it was all working.

Now that it's apparent the strategy was completely off base, the question is, will the company survive? The answer is not obvious.

My friends will tell you that I am not a big fan of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), the coffee nor the company. Yes, I will occasionally stop in and get a grande latte -- but only if I am nowhere near a McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and I absolutely have to have some caffeine. Not only is MCD's latte comparable in taste, but it is cheaper ... a characteristic very important in our current economy. It seems that other latte lovers are taking the same route as yours truly, as SBUX saw its quarterly earnings fall short of the consensus estimate.

In the latest quarter, SBUX earned 15 cents per share (excluding charges), which fell two cents shy of the Street's expectations. Moreover, these results were 13 cents short of last year's same-quarter results. Sales at the caffeine king's outlets dropped by 5.5% to $2.6 billion, which means a lot of folks are taking their business elsewhere. (Although, let's not forget that SBUX CEO Howard Schultz once said that MCD is not serious competition to his company.) For the fifth straight quarter, SBUX saw retail traffic fall.

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) CEO Howard Schultz and the company's other top executives did not earn bonuses for 2008 as the company's fortunes deteriorated.

Schultz's compensation package declined to $9.7 million from $10.6 million in 2007. According to the proxy statement, Schultz will be taking a long-term stock option grant in lieu of bonuses for the current fiscal year as well.

That all sounds good but in March, the company will be asking its shareholders to approve a plan that would allow executives to trade in their underwater stock options for a smaller number of new ones with a lower strike price. Ordinarily this is the kind of thing that drives executive pay hawks nuts but in this case it might be fair.

Starbucks fortunes have declined along with the rest of the restaurant industry because of an unprecedented rout in consumer spending. There have also been some significant missteps leading up to that mess, but the company's low stock price is partly a result of factors beyond Schultz and company's control. If the options are not repriced, executives could be tempted to bold for competitors who are offering options grants priced based on current low valuations.

The exchange ratios also seem fair. For instance, executives with options with strike prices of $35 or higher will be able to trade those in for new ones based on the price of around $9 per share: But they'll receive 1/15.5th the number of options.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) is on the Fortune list of "100 Best Places To Work." It is extremely hard to imagine how that happened. It fired 12,000 people earlier this year and now it's is saying it may not match employee 401 (K) programs. According to USA Today, "In a memo sent to workers last week, Starbucks said it will switch to a "fully discretionary match" program from a fixed employer match as of Jan. 1."

To make matters worse, Starbucks is in hot water for trying to keep unions out of its New York stores. According to The New York Times," a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled on Tuesday that Starbucks had illegally fired three baristas and otherwise violated federal labor laws in seeking to beat back unionization efforts at several of its Manhattan cafes."

What becomes more clear with each passing month is that the image Starbucks wants to push with its workers and the public is false. It is not a company that takes remarkably good care of its people. The PR crew at the company paint an image of founder Howard Schultz as a benevolent father to his employees, a guy who wants them to get ahead and fulfill their full potential. This probably helps bring in customers who want to see all of those happy workers getting up at the crack of dawn and working long hours to serve customers who love Starbucks for its great products and pristine image.

It is worthwhile to remember that Starbucks is still a successful company and Schultz is not working for a dollar a year.

The coffee chain is promoting an image that is simply not true.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Four Bucks below in the comments.

As big multinational corporations go, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) had such possibility. Rooted in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, born of grunge rock and a commitment to really good coffee and a distinct sense of place, embracing the centuries-old European coffeehouse tradition with its literary name, Starbucks, Captain Ahab's first mate in Moby Dick. The company's founders were all about the beans, buying them directly from growers in Africa and Central America and roasting the beans themselves.

It was entrepreneurial upstart Howard Schultz who conceived of the strategy of making espressos, coffees, and lattes in the coffee shops and selling them for big profit margins. And in the 1980s, milk was cheap and coffee was cheaper. I like to imagine that, as the company's founders sat around a cafe table in Seattle's Pike Place Market, drinking their mellow brew and listening to Schultz's wild ideas, the others scoffed at the concept of someone paying upwards of three dollars for a latte.

"I've spotted an excellent opportunity to cash in on the turnaround of one of America's most visible companies -- Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX)," says Jim Stanton.

The quantitative analyst and contributing editor to Xcelerated Profits Report explains, "I've had my eye on a number of retail stocks for some time now, looking for signs of a potential turnaround, and Starbucks is now high on my list."

"One of the main reasons for the slide in SBUX shares from its high of $40 in November 2006 was the overly aggressive expansion plan.

"And as food and dairy prices have soared, this has led to higher operating costs. In turn, this forced Starbucks to raise prices, just as consumers were struggling from the housing slump and soaring inflation.

"And as competition from the likes of McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts has turned up the heat, Starbucks has suffered charges related to closing out unprofitable stores. But Starbucks is tackling the problems.

With its stock teetering near 5-year lows on concerns about its growth prospects and style drift from its roots as a coffee shop, returning Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) CEO, Howard Schultz, said earlier this year that the company would stop selling sandwiches.

Let the backtracking begin. The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that Starbucks won't be discontinuing sandwiches after all. Rather, the sandwiches will "evolve," according to a Starbucks spokesperson. The company will use a different kind of cheese and less butter in an effort to prevent the scent of sandwiches from overpowering the aroma of coffee.

This looks to me like a move motivated by Wall Street rather than a broad corporate vision. Mr. Schultz made it clear that he wanted to get rid of sandwiches back in January, telling investors that "In short, the scent of the warm sandwiches interferes with the coffee aroma in our stores, which is the key to the coffee experience that forges our connection with customers."

Did it all of a sudden occur to Schultz that it might be possible to make the sandwiches less pungent? I somehow doubt it. Rather Starbucks looked at the fact that sandwiches make up 3% of the company's sales -- plus whatever additional coffee sales they generate -- and that, with the stock about 50% of its 52-week high, this just wasn't the time to take a same-store sales hit in the name of long-term vision. If this were a private company, I seriously doubt that they'd have reconsidered the plan to stop selling sandwiches. The power of the institutional imperative appears to have trumped Schultz's ideas for returning the company to its roots.

Starbucks' (NASDAQ: SBUX) Howard Schultz came back to the CEO role in late 2007 to hopefully rescue the once great concept he has so passionately developed since the 1980s. Fair enough. Could this be the second coming of Steve Jobs of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) or would it resemble the mediocre return of Michael Dell of Dell (NASDAQ: DELL)? The jury is out and time will tell.

For now, I have one major bone to pick. Howard, let's take some time here to review the store closures. I am sure a mid-level vice president made the geographical decisions. But I hope you really scoured the list carefully.

Let's take an example: Minnetonka, Minnesota. Howard, I'm sure it may not mean much to you. After all, you were raised in New York and currently live in Seattle, so Minnesota may be flyover country. Minnetonka is a western suburb of Minneapolis sporting a growing population of about 52,000. Minnetonka is a fairly upscale suburb with near full employment. Just for your information, Minnetonka is also the world headquarters for the biggest private company in the world; probably one of your suppliers. The company is called Cargill -- just in case your VP missed it.

It's on the Starbucks hit list. You are closing the Minnetonka store. Are you nuts?!! I have written in the past that this store should serve as one of your models on how to do it right. Sure, economics eventually have to make sense. This store is about three years old and the growth of traffic has been steady. Used to be one person in line at 10:30 am, now it's common to see a continuous stream of 7-8 people in that off -hour line. Early mornings are very busy.