Starbucks In Line

StarbucksSBUX served up an 18% rise in second-quarter earnings Thursday, meeting Wall Street's expectation, and the coffee retailing giant backed its guidance for the full year.

For the quarter ended April 1, the Seattle-based company earned $151 million, or 19 cents a share, up from $127 million, or 16 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue increased 20% to $2.26 billion, while same-store sales climbed 4%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 19 cents a share on $2.3 billion in revenue.

"We are pleased with the strength of our business -- reflected by solid revenue growth and the opening of 560 new stores during the quarter," Jim Donald, president and CEO, said in a statement. "We continue to build a solid global foundation, which will enable us to execute our strategy and realize the tremendous growth opportunities available to Starbucks."

Looking ahead, the company said it plans to open about 2,400 new stores worldwide in fiscal 2007. In the U.S., Starbucks expects to open about 1,000 company-operated locations and 700 licensed locations.

Starbucks said it is targeting total revenue growth of about 20% for the full year and same-store sales growth of 3% to 4%. The company continues to forecast earnings of 87 cents to 89 cents a share for fiscal 2007.

Wall Street currently expects earnings per share of 89 cents for the year.

Shares were climbing 91 cents, or 2.9%, to $32.53 in after-hours trading.