Starbucks (SBUX)

Trading at one of the lowest premiums to the S&P than it has for a long time. A great business. Very strong brand. Have had some operational issues lately, partly to do with their North American operations; the new mobile app and issues it has created in the stores. They are working through that. Also, China is very important for them. Generates great returns. Well run and getting cheaper than what it was. Still not cheap though. When he thinks it is appropriate, he will Buy. Dividend yield of 1.8%.

Owned this for a couple of years, and just sold it off this past week. He is shifting away from some of the growthier high PE names to the value side. This is a great franchise and are diversifying into other markets globally, but it is trading at a multiple of 25X forward earnings. Also, same-store sales have slowed to the lowest level since 2009.

This hasn’t done anything. There are better sand boxes to play in. It’s not bearish yet.

Every time you think they cannot expand they keep surprising you. They are a tremendous company. They are not cheap, but you can’t deny their marketing genius.

A fairly controversial name right now. He would be inclined to be a short seller on this. Howard Schultz departure is a negative, as he is an icon in the business world, and very hard to replace. Also, he is fairly bullish on dairy prices, which is a big input cost for them. They’ve had a few hiccups with the mobile pickups. The valuation versus what has been delivered over the last few quarters has a bit of a disconnect. Dividend yield of 1.8%.

It had a challenging year, transitioning to mobile sales. We could see some short term volatility. They tend to beat their estimates. They are closing some of the Teavana stories.

He continues to like this. They are expanding very nicely internationally, into markets like China. It is a little expensive, trading at around 25-27 times earnings. However, there is no other name like this. Technically it has broken out a little above the 200-day moving average.

Starbucks (SBUX-Q) or McDonald’s (MCD-N)? He likes both. This one is high quality, with over 21,000 stores in 66 countries. You are getting a lot of global exposure. As large as this one is, it is still early in its growth cycle. Emerging markets, especially Asia, are real growth catalyst for Starbucks. You are seeing double digit growth in their sales growth, 20% year-over-year. Feels this one has more upside. Now is not a bad time to step into this.

Just announced that the CEO is stepping down, and the stock was down 3.5% after hours. That was an overreaction when you think about the magnitude of the chain and the market cap it represents. He is still going to be executive Chairman.

(A Top Pick Sept 26/15. Up 0.86%.) A great place to be. This has been a wonderful, long term stock. There are a lot of good stocks out there where the stock peaked in late 2014, and has had a slow decline on pretty slow growth earnings. She is looking for stronger earnings growth going forward. She loves the long-term story of Starbucks opening more and more stores globally.

This is still on her buying list, and one that she thinks has great upside to go.

(Home Depot (HD-N) or Starbucks (SBUX-Q) for a long-term US dividend growth stock?) The market has taken 10%-15% off both names this year. He likes and owns both. If you can do it in your portfolio, you might want to buy half of each. This is considered more of a staple. Both are dividend growers. (Also see Top Picks.)

Same store sales have been in the same range for some time and then they had a hiccup and that gave investors a scare. Their revenue and earnings stayed intact, however. Same store sales figures suffered from a change in their loyalty program.

An excellent company and brand with locations around the world. They have tremendous growth. Because of the valuation at over 22 times earnings he would never buy it, except in a significant pullback.

It is on her watch list. It tends to be a premium priced stock. The same store growth was below expectations so the stock pulled back. There is a lot of potential internationally. Don’t sell if you own it.