Starbucks' Bitter Taste

Updated from 1:55 p.m. EDT

Investors are tasting hints of a slowdown in Starbucks' (SBUX Quote) latest brew.

They looked past the java giant's solid third-quarter earnings on Thursday and instead focused on its July sales results, which contained the whiff of deceleration that may threaten the stock's rich valuation.

While Wall Street may be notorious for attributing undue significance to a single monthly sales number, the 4% comp rise posted by Starbucks for July marked its slowest month since December of 2001. It was at the low end of its target of 3% to 7% growth and continued a streak of slowing same-store sales growth to three months in a row. ...