Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol Sees Room To Double International Store Base, Add 5,000 Outlets In North America

Niccol told CNBC that Starbucks sees significant growth opportunities across Asia and North America, supported by rising customer transactions and higher per-visit spending.

• Niccol said Starbucks is extending its three-hour morning peak to four hours to drive additional transactions.
• The CEO said customers are increasingly adding pastries, breakfast sandwiches and cold foam to their orders.
• BofA raised Starbucks' price target to $141 from $136 and maintained a ‘Buy’ rating.

Starbucks Corp (SBUX) CEO Brian Niccol said Friday the coffee giant has room to double its international store footprint and add at least 5,000 stores across North America.

“There's no reason why we can't double that,” Niccol said in a CNBC interview, referring to the approximately 22,000 Starbucks locations outside the U.S., following the company's strong fiscal fourth-quarter performance.

In North America, Niccol sees room for at least 5,000 additional stores, noting that Starbucks plans to resume meaningful expansion in the U.S. At the time of this writing, SBUX stock was trading more than 2% lower. 

Niccol Sees Growth Opportunities Across Asia

Niccol highlighted expansion opportunities in China, India and Latin America, as well as Japan, South Korea and the broader Asia-Pacific region. He also said the international business recorded 5% revenue growth excluding the impact of the China transaction. 

Starbucks' reported international segment revenue fell 37% in the fourth quarter, primarily reflecting the conversion of its China retail operations to a licensed joint venture model.

The company ended fiscal 2026 with 41,607 coffeehouses globally and expects approximately 1,200 net new locations in fiscal 2027, led by international expansion.

More Customers, Higher Spending Per Visit

Niccol said Starbucks was seeing more customers visit its stores more frequently, while average spending per transaction increased as customers added food and beverage modifiers.

Starbucks' U.S. comparable sales rose 7.7% in the fourth quarter, supported by a 2.4% increase in transactions and 5.2% growth in average ticket. 

Niccol said the company had focused on executing its three-hour morning peak and was now extending it to four hours to capture additional transactions. He also identified opportunities to improve the afternoon peak before extending that period.

Starbucks Raises Growth Expectations

Niccol said Starbucks' fourth-quarter adjusted operating margin expanded by 450 basis points. The CEO also noted that Starbucks increased its North American comparable-sales growth outlook to about 4% for fiscal 2027, up from its earlier long-term expectation of at least 3%.

While acknowledging a difficult consumer environment, Niccol said the company remained prudent in its forecasts. “We're ahead of schedule,” he said, noting that Starbucks' fiscal 2027 outlook was already reaching the lower end of its fiscal 2028 framework.

Analysts Raise SBUX Price Targets

According to TheFly, BofA raised its price target on Starbucks to $141 from $136 and maintained a ‘Buy’ rating. The firm noted that continued improvement in the two-year traffic trend indicated that underlying business momentum was still strengthening, although at a slower pace than earlier in the turnaround.

Baird analyst Chris O'Cull also raised his price target to $120 from $115, and maintained an ‘Outperform’ rating, noting that operating leverage was beginning to improve.

What Retail Thinks About SBUX Stock

On Stocktwits, retail investors’ sentiment around SBUX stock remained in the ‘bearish’ territory.

So far this year, SBUX stock has rallied nearly 24%. By comparison, the State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY), which holds the stock, has fallen nearly 3% over this period.

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