Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says the company’s leaders should spend more time in stores and focus on coffee drinks as they work to turn around flagging sales.
In a LinkedIn post published over the weekend, Schultz said many people had reached out to him after Starbucks reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings last week.
The Seattle coffee giant said revenue dropped 2% in the January-March period as store traffic slowed around the world. It was the first time since 2020 that the company saw a drop in quarterly revenue. Starbucks also lowered its sales and earnings guidance for its full fiscal year.
Wall Street rises
U.S. stocks rose Monday and added to their gains from last week, as technology companies once again led the way.
The S&P 500 rose 52.95, or 1%, to 5,180.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 176.59, or 0.5%, to 38,852.27, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 192.92, or 1.2%, to 16,349.25.
Tech stocks were at the forefront, with familiar ringleaders Nvidia and Super Micro Computer again pulling the market higher. They’ve had a couple hiccups recently, but a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology has Nvidia up 86.1% for the year so far after Monday’s 3.8% gain. Super Micro is up 192.1% after its gain of 6.1%.
Vistra, an electricity and power generation company, rose 2.1% after investors learned it will join the widely tracked S&P 500 index on Wednesday. Berkshire Hathaway added 1% after Warren Buffett’s company reported its latest quarterly results over the weekend.
