Starbucks Earnings Increase 18% - NYTimes.com The Starbucks Corporation, the ubiquitous coffee company, grew strongly in the quarter that ended April 1, propelled by more traffic in its stores and big increases in sales of its products through channels like grocery and warehouse stores. Earnings increased 18 percent to $309.9 million, or 40 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with $261.6 million, or 34 cents a share in the quarter a year earlier. The results were in line with analysts" expectations. Revenues rose 14.7 percent to $3.2 billion from $2.8 billion in the second quarter of last year. Same-store sales increased 7 percent. "I could not be more excited or more optimistic about the future of our company as we pursue disciplined, profitable growth all around the world," said Howard Schultz, chairman, chief executive and president of Starbucks. Starbucks sales in China, where it realizes its highest profit margins, grew more than 20 percent for the seventh consecutive quarter, and the company said it planned to accelerate store opening there. "China is going gangbusters," said Troy Alstead, Starbucks chief financial officer, in a brief interview. Sales through channels other than its stores jumped 57 percent in the quarter, driven by its Starbucks- and Tazo-branded K Cup packs, the single serving cups used in Keurig brewing systems. Mr. Alstead said that when sales of its Via single-serve coffee product were added to K Cup sales, Starbucks controlled about 20 percent of the premium single serve coffee market. He said he expected the company's share of market to grow when it began selling K Cups in its own stores later this year and with the introduction of the Verisimo System, the high-pressure brewing system Starbucks will sell in time for the holidays. The system will make espresso and brewed coffee. The company will continue to feel the impact of higher coffee prices through the rest of its fiscal year, Mr. Alstead said. Higher coffee prices over the last two years have increased the company's costs by about $500 million, which has been offset by strong revenue growth and tight expense control. The company has already locked in its prices for the next year and a half, Mr. Alstead said. "We're past the peak of the spike now, and while it's still high in the third and fourth quarter, it gets smaller," he said. We see the light at the end of the tunnel.