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    in Business

    Yum Brands earnings miss estimates despite KFC and Pizza Hut’s recovery in China

    Yum Brands’ earnings fell short of Wall Street estimates for the first quarter.
    Yum’s same-store sales increased 8% in the quarter as KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut outperformed expectations.

    Cars wait in a line at a KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) drive-thru in Bloomsburg.
    Paul Weaver | LightRocket | Getty Images

    Yum Brands on Wednesday reported quarterly earnings that fell short of analysts’ expectations, despite a China sales rebound for KFC and Pizza Hut.
    Yum joins the growing list of companies that includes Procter & Gamble and Starbucks that have reported recovering sales in China.

    Shares of the company dropped more than 2% in premarket trading.
    Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

    Earnings per share: $1.06 adjusted vs. $1.13 expected
    Revenue: $1.65 billion vs. $1.62 billion expected

    Yum reported first-quarter net income of $300 million, or $1.05 per share, down from $399 million, or $1.36 per share, a year earlier. The company said its earning per share decreased by 7 cents per share due to decreases in the value of unnamed investments, and took an 8 cent per share hit because of foreign currency.
    Excluding items, the restaurant company earned $1.06 per share.
    Net sales rose 6% to $1.65 billion. Its same-store sales increased 8% in the quarter as its three largest chains outperformed expectations. Digital sales exceeded 45% of transactions, CEO David Gibbs said.

    KFC’s same-store sales rose 9%, thanks to its international markets. In China, KFC’s largest market, system sales climbed 17%, helping lift the chain’s international same-store sales growth 11%.
    Similarly, Pizza Hut reported that China’s system sales soared 24% in the quarter. The country is Pizza Hut’s second-largest market, trailing on the U.S.
    The pizza chain also performed well stateside, reporting domestic same-store sales growth of 8%. Overall, Pizza Hut’s same-store sales rose 7%.
    Taco Bell reported same-store sales growth of 8% for the quarter.
    Yum opened 746 new locations during the quarter. Taco Bell saw the largest increase in openings as the chain focused on expanding its international footprint.
    Shortly after the quarter ended, Yum completed its exit from Russia through the sale of those KFC restaurants to Smart Service, an existing Russian franchisee. The company had already sold its Pizza Hut locations there to a local operator last summer following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
    Next quarter, Yum won’t face any comparisons that include its Russian business because the company suspended operations there in early March last year. More

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    in Business

    Mortgage demand drops as bank failures hit jumbo loan rates

    The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) decreased to 6.50% from 6.55%
    Mortgage applications to purchase a home dropped 2% last week compared with the previous week.
    The spread between conforming and jumbo mortgage rates narrowed again.

    Homes in Centreville, Maryland, US, on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. 
    Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Mortgage demand from homebuyers has been erratic to say the least during the usually busy spring housing market. That is likely because today’s buyers are hypersensitive to mortgage rates, which have been fluctuating widely week to week but which are still considerably higher than they were a year ago. Now, several bank failures are starting to make it more difficult even for wealthier buyers.
    Mortgage applications to purchase a home dropped 2% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Demand was 32% lower than the same week one year ago.

    The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) decreased to 6.50% from 6.55%, with points remaining at 0.63 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment. The rate was 5.36% the same week one year ago.
    The average rate for jumbo loans (higher-balance mortgages) was slightly lower at 6.37%, but that spread has been shrinking for the last few months. Jumbo loan rates had been far lower than conforming because banks generally hold these loans on their balance sheets, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don’t purchase them. Fannie and Freddie have imposed higher fees since the Great Recession, so their rates are now higher.
    “The jumbo-conforming spread continues to narrow, an indication that there is reduced lender appetite for jumbo loans following the recent turmoil in the banking sector and heightened concerns about liquidity,” wrote Joel Kan, MBA’s deputy chief economist, in a release. “The spread was 13 basis points last week, after being as wide as 64 basis points in November 2022.”
    Applications to refinance a home loan increased 1% from the previous week but were 51% lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity rose to 27.2% of total applications from 26.8% the previous week.
    Mortgage rates were volatile to start this week, with more concern over bank failures and a much-anticipated Federal Reserve meeting Wednesday. The Fed is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point, but it will be the commentary from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that will have the greatest impact on the bond market, and consequently mortgage rates. More

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    in Finance

    After First Republic’s rescue, economists predict further pain with a ‘new era’ of higher inflation

    Central banks around the world have been aggressively raising interest rates for over a year in a bid to curb sky-high inflation.
    But economists warned in recent days that price pressures look likely to remain higher for longer.
    Almost 80% of chief economists surveyed by the WEF said central banks face “a trade-off between managing inflation and maintaining financial sector stability.”

    Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell holds a news conference after the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on interest rate policy in Washington, March 22, 2023.
    Leah Millis | Reuters

    After the rescue of First Republic Bank by JPMorgan Chase over the weekend, leading economists predict a prolonged period of higher interest rates will expose further frailties in the banking sector, potentially compromising the capacity of central banks to rein in inflation.
    The U.S. Federal Reserve will announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday, closely followed by the European Central Bank on Thursday.

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    Central banks around the world have been aggressively raising interest rates for over a year in a bid to curb sky-high inflation, but economists warned in recent days that price pressures look likely to remain higher for longer.
    The WEF Chief Economists Outlook report published Monday highlighted that inflation remains a primary concern. Almost 80% of chief economists surveyed said central banks face “a trade-off between managing inflation and maintaining financial sector stability,” while a similar proportion expects central banks to struggle to reach their inflation targets.
    “Most chief economists are expecting that central banks will have to play a very delicate dance between wanting to bring down inflation further and the financial stability concerns that have also arisen in the last few months,” Zahidi told CNBC Monday.

    As a result, she explained, that trade-off will become harder to navigate, with around three quarters of economists polled expecting inflation to remain high, or central banks to be unable to move fast enough to bring it down to target.
    First Republic Bank became the latest casualty over the weekend, the third among mid-sized U.S. banks after the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in early March. This time, it was JPMorgan Chase that rode to the rescue, the Wall Street giant winning a weekend auction for the embattled regional lender after it was seized by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

    CEO Jamie Dimon claimed the resolution marked the end of the recent market turbulence as JPMorgan Chase acquired nearly all of First Republic’s deposits and a majority of its assets.
    Yet several leading economists told a panel at the World Economic Forum Growth Summit in Geneva on Tuesday that higher inflation and greater financial instability are here to stay.
    “People haven’t pivoted to this new era, that we have an era that will be structurally more inflationary, a world of post-globalization where we won’t have the same scale of trade, there’ll be more trade barriers, an older demographic that means that the retirees who are savers aren’t saving the same way,” said Karen Harris, managing director of macro trends at Bain & Company.

    “And we have a declining workforce, which requires investment in automation in many markets, so less generation of capital, less free movement of capital and goods, more demands for capital. That means inflation, the impulse of inflation will be higher.”
    Harris added that this doesn’t mean that actual inflation prints will be higher, but will require real rates (which are adjusted for inflation) to be higher for longer, which she said creates “a lot of risk” in that “the calibration to an era of low rates is so entrenched that getting used to higher rates, that torque, will create failures that we haven’t yet seen or anticipated.”
    She added that it “defies logic” that as the industry tries to pivot rapidly to a higher interest rate environment, there won’t be further casualties beyond SVB, Signature, Credit Suisse and First Republic.

    Jorge Sicilia, chief economist at BBVA Group, said after the abrupt rise in rates over the last 15 months or so, central banks will likely want to “wait and see” how this monetary policy shift transmits through the economy. However, he said that a greater concern was potential “pockets of instability” that the market is currently unaware of.
    “In a world where leverage has been very high because you had very low interest rates for a long period of time, in which liquidity is not going to be as ample as before, you’re not going to know where the next problem is going to be,” Sicilia told the panel.
    He also drew attention to the International Monetary Fund’s latest financial stability report’s reference to “interconnectedness” of leverage, liquidity and these pockets of instability.
    “If the interconnectedness of pockets of instability don’t go to the banking system that typically provide lending, it need not generate a significant problem and thus, central banks can continue focusing on inflation,” Sicilia said.
    “That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to have instability, but it means that it’s going to be worse down the road if inflation doesn’t come down to levels close to 2 or 3%, and central banks are still there.” More

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    in Finance

    Michael Milken says recent crisis is the same mistake banks have been making for decades

    Michael Milken, Chairman of the Milken Institute, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on May 2, 2022. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
    Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images

    Famed investor Michael Milken said Tuesday that the current banking crisis stemmed from a classic asset-liability mismatch that has played out miserably time and again in history.
    “You shouldn’t have borrowed short and lent long… Finance 101,” Milken said on CNBC’s “Last Call.” “How many times, how many decades are we going to learn this lesson of borrowing overnight and lending long? Whether it was the 1970s, the 1980s and 90s.”

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    “Again here, the banks have enough credit, they had enough equity, they had enough ability to absorb credit losses that are coming. However, what they did is they doubled, tripled, quadrupled their size by borrowing overnight at artificially low rates, and buying intermediate securities,” said Milken in the rare comments on the financial markets by the junk bond innovator.
    Earlier this week, First Republic became the third failure of an American bank since March and the biggest bank collapse since the 2008 financial crisis. The bank suffered a deposit flight as its long-term assets fell in market value after a series of rate hikes, triggering worries about unrealized losses on the balance sheet.
    The founder of the Milken Institute believes that there will be a decrease in the percentage of loans that are owned by the banking system in the aftermath of the crisis.
    “We will be stronger as they move into hands of… pension funds that have long term liabilities,” Milken said. “People are so focused on credit risk, etc., but one of the great risks is interest rate risk.”
    In the wake of these bank failures, investors have punished other lenders that had similar characteristics. Companies with the highest percentage of uninsured deposits and potential severe bond losses on their balance sheet were most scrutinized.

    To be sure, the 76-year-old investor acknowledged that the largest banks in the U.S. have in fact displayed conservative risk management amid the rapid increase in interest rates.
    “It’s not like there isn’t a great deal of liquidity in this country….We should also take into consideration that our major banks… have exercised extreme caution on liability and asset management,” Milken said.
    Milken was the king of junk bonds in the 1980s and pioneered leveraged buyouts. In 1990, he pleaded guilty to securities fraud and tax violations, and was later pardoned in 2020 by President Donald Trump. More

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    3 indicators the job market is seeing what one economist calls an ‘unambiguous cooldown’

    Job openings and worker quits declined and the layoff rate increased in March, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey issued Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to slow the economy and labor market in an attempt to rein in inflation.
    However, the job market is still strong for workers and the unemployment rate is at multidecade lows.

    Maskot | Digitalvision | Getty Images

    The job market is still hot but is clearly slowing from the scorching levels seen during much of the past two years, according to labor experts.
    Job openings and voluntary worker departures or, quits, declined in March, while the layoff rate increased, according to data issued Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.   

    “Two words: unambiguous cooldown,” Nick Bunker, director of North American economic research at job site Indeed, said of the data in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
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    The job market remains favorable for workers despite the recent cooling trend. By many metrics, it’s stronger than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when it was also robust, economists said. The national 3.5% unemployment rate in March ties for the lowest since 1969.
    “If you’re looking at the current temperature of the labor market, it’s still strong, still hot,” Bunker said.
    It’s unclear if the cooling will continue and at what speed.

    The Federal Reserve began raising borrowing costs aggressively last year to cool the economy and labor market, aiming to tame stubbornly high inflation. And a pullback in lending, exacerbated by recent turmoil in the banking sector, may apply an additional brake on the U.S. economy.

    Here’s what the latest data tell us about the job market.

    1. Job openings

    Job openings, a proxy of employers’ demand for workers, dropped to a two-year low in March.
    Openings decreased to 9.6 million in March, a drop of 384,000 from February, according to JOLTS data.
    Job openings kept breaking records as the U.S. economy reopened in the Covid-19 pandemic era. Businesses clamored to hire workers, and openings eventually peaked above 12 million in March 2022.
    Now, openings are down by 1.6 million from December — a “pretty rapid pullback,” Bunker said — and are at their lowest level since April 2021.
    There are also 1.6 job openings for every unemployed worker, the lowest ratio since October 2021.

    However, openings remain well above their pre-pandemic baseline. For example, there were about 7.2 million job openings a month, on average, in 2019.
    Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees seem to have led the decline in overall job openings in March, said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.
    While the number of job openings in the private sector declined 4.7%, the decline was sharper (8.9%) among small businesses, she said, citing JOLTS data.
    Tighter lending conditions generally have a bigger effect on small businesses and “are likely hindering their ability to invest and grow,” Pollak added.

    2. Quits

    The so-called Great Resignation trend continued to wane in March.
    About 3.9 million workers quit their jobs in March, a modest decline of 129,000 from February. However, these voluntary departures have fallen about 650,000 from about a year ago, when quits were near record highs.
    Quits are a proxy for worker confidence that they can find another job, since those who leave often do so for new employment.

    High employee turnover in restaurants has been a major driver of sky-high wage growth in recent months, but that may soon come to an end.

    Julia Pollak
    chief economist at ZipRecruiter

    The numbers are still about 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels, but “also falling in a sign that workers are growing less confident in their ability to quit [and] find new jobs amidst a cooling job market,” said Daniel Zhao, lead economist at job site Glassdoor.
    The slowdown was most pronounced in accommodation and food services, which includes businesses such as restaurants and hotels. The quits rate declined 1.3 percentage points over the month, more than double the rate of other industries, according to JOLTS data.
    “High employee turnover in restaurants has been a major driver of sky-high wage growth in recent months, but that may soon come to an end,” Pollak said.

    3. Layoffs

    There was a sharp uptick in layoffs in March.
    The layoff rate increased to 1.2%, the highest level since December 2020, from 1%.
    The jump in layoffs is “the most concerning figure” from the JOLTS report, Zhao said. The number of layoffs rose 248,000 over the month, to about 1.8 million, which is “near the pre-pandemic level after spending much of the last [two] years well below, amidst a historically hot job market,” he said.
    The sharpest increase was in the construction sector, where one would expect the economic fallout from higher borrowing costs to first hit the labor market, due partly to higher mortgage costs, Bunker added.
    However, economists would need to see if that trend persists beyond the month before drawing negative conclusions, he added. More

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    in Business

    Ford cutting price of electric Mustang Mach-E by thousands of dollars

    Ford will lower pricing of the Mach-E by a range of $1,000 to $4,000. The cuts will make the starting price of the vehicle be between $42,995 and $59,995.
    The cuts are the latest price adjustments in the EV market following Tesla changing prices on its vehicles several times this year.
    Automakers are attempting to balance growth and earnings potential when it comes to electric vehicles.

    Ford Mustang Mach-E is presented at the New York International Auto Show, in Manhattan, New York City, April 5, 2023.
    David Dee Delgado | Reuters

    DETROIT — Ford Motor is once again cutting the starting prices of its electric Mustang Mach-E by thousands of dollars, as the automaker increases production of the crossover and reopens order banks for the vehicle.
    The Detroit automaker said Tuesday it will lower pricing of the Mach-E by a range of $1,000 to $4,000. The cuts will make the starting price of the vehicle fall between $42,995 and $59,995.

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    The reductions are the latest price adjustments in the electric vehicle market following Tesla cutting prices several times this year, but also slightly raising prices on some models this week.
    Ford last announced it was cutting prices of the Mach-E by $600 to $5,900 in January, weeks after Tesla announced similar price cuts for vehicles such as its Model Y, which is comparable to the Mach-E.
    Automakers are attempting to balance growth and earnings potential when it comes to EVs — something Wall Street analysts have been watching to better determine company’s strategies with the vehicles.
    “Like other [automakers], Ford must decide what kind of EV strategy to pursue: Grow fast and burn cash or a more focused approach that prioritizes capital discipline,” Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in an investor note last week.
    Tesla CEO Elon Musk last month said the EV maker would prioritize growth ahead of profits in a weak economy.

    Musk said the company has “taken a view that pushing for higher volumes and a larger fleet is the right choice here, versus a lower volume and higher margin,” but noted that he expects Tesla vehicles “over time will be able to generate significant profit through autonomy.”
    In addition to the price change, Ford said Tuesday that standard range models of the Mach-E will now be powered by lithium-iron phosphate batteries instead of lithium ion. The vehicles also will add additional horsepower and range, Ford said.
    “The production increase for Mustang Mach-E in the second half of this year is part of Ford’s plan to scale electric vehicles and make them more accessible and affordable for customers,” Ford said in a release.
    Ford also said Tuesday that its BlueCruise hands-free driver-assistance system will be available on all Mustang Mach-E models. A complimentary 90-day trial of the system will be included for new owners. Ford said a three-year subscription for BlueCruise will cost $2,100, up from $1,900. More

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    Ford posts stellar first quarter, boosted by fleet and legacy truck divisions

    Ford on Tuesday reported first-quarter results that topped Wall Street’s estimates.
    The automaker’s fleet and legacy operations outperformed amid growing losses in electric vehicles, as the operation scales up.
    Despite the significant beat, Ford maintained its previously announced 2023 guidance of adjusted earnings between $9 billion and $11 billion.

    DETROIT — Ford Motor on Tuesday reported first-quarter results that significantly topped Wall Street’s estimates, as the automaker’s fleet and legacy operations outweighed growing losses in electric vehicles.
    Despite the significant beat, Ford maintained its previously announced 2023 guidance, and the stock ticked lower in extended trading.

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    Ford finance chief John Lawler said the quarter was a “peek at what’s possible to generate value and growth.” His comments come months after CEO Jim Farley said the company failed to capitalize on $2 billion in additional profits last year due to “execution issues.”
    Here’s how Ford did during the quarter, compared with what Wall Street expected based on average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:

    Earnings per share: 63 cents, adjusted, vs. 41 cents expected
    Automotive revenue: $39.09 billion vs. $36.08 billion expected

    Farley said during the earnings call that the company had a “solid quarter while making real progress on our Ford+ growth plan.”
    “I hope that becomes a trend at Ford, boringly predictable when it comes to execution and delivering financials, but extremely ambitious in dynamically creating the Ford of the future,” Farley said.
    The company reiterated it expects full-year adjusted earnings between $9 billion and $11 billion and roughly $6 billion in adjusted free cash flow. Ford said it plans to have capital expenditures of between $8 billion and $9 billion in 2023.

    Ford also reconfirmed it expects to lose about $3 billion from its electric vehicle operations, known as Model e, in 2023. Ford said the operations’ loss widened to $722 million in the first quarter from $380 million a year earlier as it ramps up EV production.
    Those losses were washed out, however, by the company’s traditional car business, known as Ford Blue, which earned $2.6 billion, and the automaker’s Ford Pro fleet operations, which reported $1.4 billion in earnings. The automaker said both business segments were profitable in every region where they operate.
    Lawler reconfirmed the automaker expects Model e to report a positive EBIT margin of 8% by the end of 2026, including its first-generation EVs by 2024.
    Ford is reporting its quarterly financial results by business unit, instead of by region, for the first time. The Detroit automaker earlier this year released revised results for 2021 and 2022 according to the new structure.
    Wall Street is closely monitoring the Model e EV unit in addition to any comments on EV pricing following Tesla price changes. Ford earlier Tuesday said it would again cut the starting prices of its electric Mustang Mach-E by thousands of dollars, as it increases production and reopens order banks for the crossover.
    “It’s a competitive segment, and we’re working on cost reductions,” Lawler told reporters after the company’s quarterly results. Ford expects $5,000 in build-cost reductions on average. He said some models switching to lithium-iron phosphate batteries from lithium ion should assist in such reductions.
    For the first quarter, Ford reported net income of $1.8 billion, or 44 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $3.1 billion, or 78 cents per share, during the year-earlier period. Results last year were dragged down by a one-off charge related to its investment in EV startup Rivian.
    Total revenue, which includes the impact of Ford Credit, grew 20% year over year to $41.5 billion, the company said.
    There was additional pressure on Ford’s first-quarter results after crosstown rival General Motors last week raised key guidance for 2023 and reported results that topped Wall Street’s forecasts for both revenue and earnings.
    GM raised its adjusted earnings expectations to a range of $11 billion to $13 billion, or $6.35 to $7.35 a share, and expectations for adjusted automotive free cash flow to between $5.5 billion and $7.5 billion.
    Despite GM’s results and guidance raise its shares notably fell last week as Wall Street analysts remained skeptical about the company’s ability to perform amid broader economic challenges and an automotive industry that’s normalizing away from pricey vehicles and record profits.
    Ford’s Lawyer said “there will definitely be some pressure on pricing” regarding the automaker’s legacy operations, as supply and demand normalize. Pricing for the automaker was level during the first quarter, he said.
    — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
    Correction: Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected Ford to report first-quarter automotive revenue of $36.08 billion. An earlier version misstated the estimate. More

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    Starbucks earnings beat as China reverses same-store sales declines

    Starbucks on Tuesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ expectations.
    China, the company’s second-largest market, saw its same-store sales increase.
    U.S. same-store sales jumped 12%, helped by a 6% increase in traffic.

    Starbucks on Tuesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ expectations, fueled by better-than-expected international sales.
    In China, the company’s second-largest market, Starbucks saw its same-store sales increase for the first time since Starbucks’ fiscal third quarter in 2021, as customers returned to its cafes following the rollback of Beijng’s zero-Covid policy.

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    However, shares fell 5.6% in extended trading after executives reaffirmed its full fiscal-year outlook.
    Here’s what Starbucks reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

    Earnings per share: 74 cents adjusted vs. 65 cents expected
    Revenue: $8.72 billion vs. $8.4 billion expected

    The coffee giant reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $908.3 million, or 79 cents per share, up from $674.5 million, or 58 cents per share, a year earlier.
    Excluding items, Starbucks earned 74 cents per share.
    Net sales rose 14.2% to $8.72 billion. The company’s same-store sales climbed 11% in the quarter, beating StreetAccount estimates of 7.1%. Both the U.S. and international markets outperformed expectations.

    “This is remarkable on any level, but specifically given the seasonality pressures we typically experience in [the second quarter],” finance chief Rachel Ruggeri said on the company’s conference call.
    U.S. same-store sales jumped 12% on a 6% increase in traffic. Some restaurant companies, like Outback Steakhouse owner Bloomin’ Brands, have reported shrinking traffic as customers pull back on dining out. Starbucks joins fellow outliers like McDonald’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill, which also saw traffic jump.
    The company said its active U.S. loyalty program members gained 15% from the year-ago period to 30.8 million during the quarter ended April 2.
    Outside the U.S., the coffee chain’s same-store sales increased 7%.
    In China, the metric rose 3%. Starbucks China Chair Belinda Wong said that the business saw 30% same-store sales growth in March and that momentum has continued into the fiscal third quarter.
    “We’re very encouraged by the signs that we see, but there’s a lot that we’re navigating,” Ruggeri said.
    Last quarter, then-CEO Howard Schultz said the company expected its business in China would recover in the second half of fiscal 2023.
    Starbucks reaffirmed its fiscal-year outlook, projecting revenue growth of 10% to 12% and adjusted earnings-per-share growth on the low end of 15% to 20%.
    Starbucks opened 464 net new locations during the quarter. More