It is hard to believe that Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX ) traded for less than $10 just five years ago. Today, it trades nearly nine times higher than its financial-crisis low and has charged up 43% in the last year — besting the S&P 500 index by more than 10 percentage points. Even a multibillion-dollar judgment against the company in an arbitration case with Mondelez International barely put a dent in Starbucks’ stock price.
It is impossible to know what the market will do in any given year, but there is a good chance that Starbucks’ current growth initiatives will elevate the stock to new highs in 2014.
Starbucks: Not just a coffee shop
Starbucks coffee has more or less run its course in the United States; there are more than 13,000 Starbucks in the Americas, 1 in 5 customers visit every other day, and most locations offer more than 87,000 drink combinations. It is time for Starbucks to branch out a little.