Starbucks Q3 FY2026: comps up 7.9%, GAAP EPS $0.91, revenue down 1.4%
Starbucks beat on the bottom line and expanded margins while comparable store sales rose 7.9%, but reported revenue still slipped 1.4% to $9.32 billion because China moved off the books. Read the quarter in two layers: the operating business (comps, transactions, non-GAAP margin) improved sharply, while the GAAP figures, including EPS of $0.91, also carry a $536.3 million one-time gain from the China divestiture.
1 · Expected vs. Actual
Free preview belowGAAP EPS of $0.91 landed well above the $0.6743 consensus, and non-GAAP EPS of $0.85 beat as well. Net income attributable to Starbucks was $1.05 billion, up 87.2% from $558.3 million a year ago, but $0.47 of the GAAP per-share figure comes from the net gain on the China divestiture and the effective tax rate fell to 26.4% from 31.8%. Even after stripping those out, non-GAAP EPS grew 70.0% year over year, so the beat is real, just less dramatic than the GAAP line suggests.
Revenue came in at $9.32 billion, down 1.4% from $9.46 billion a year earlier, so the top line fell even as the stores were busier. The drop is structural rather than demand-led: International revenue fell 34.2% to $1.32 billion after Starbucks converted its China retail business into a licensed joint venture, while North America grew 6.8% to $7.40 billion and Channel Development rose 21.5% to $587.9 million. Global comparable store sales rose 7.9%, with transactions up 4.2% and average ticket up 3.5%, which is the number that says customers actually came back.
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Figures on this page come from the company's original SEC filings. The analysis is generated automatically and checked against validation rules, but may still contain errors or omissions. Not investment advice. · Generated 2026-09-17
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