Moody's Places Starbucks (SBUX) Senior Unsecured Ratings On Review Down

July 3, 2008 11:35 AM EDT

Moody's Investors Service placed the Baa1 senior unsecured rating for Starbucks Corporation's (Nasdaq: SBUX) on review for possible downgrade. In addition, Moody's affirmed the company's
Prime-2 short-term rating for commercial paper. The review for possible downgrade was prompted by the recent announcement that Starbucks will close approximately 600 under-performing company owned stores and reduce new store growth in fiscal year 2009 as the company has experienced a substantial downturn in traffic in its U.S. stores.

Moody's review will focus on Starbucks expected operating performance, liquidity and debt protection metrics which continue to be negatively impacted by a persistently weak economic and consumer environment, all of which are not likely to abate over the intermediate term.

Starbucks Corp purchases and roasts high quality whole coffee beans, which it sells along with various fresh brewed coffee drinks, teas, complementary food items, and coffee related accessories.

Related Categories

Analyst Comments

Stocks Mentioned

Add Your Comment

Name

Subject

Body

Verification can't see the text?
click here to refresh the image.
what's this?