Luckin Coffee Stock Rises On Expansion Plans: Retail Sentiment Brightens

ADR shares of Luckin Coffee ($LKNCY) rose 2.57% on Friday as reports surfaced about the company’s plans to expand into Malaysia, lifting retail sentiment.

According to media reports, Luckin Coffee opened its first two stores in Malaysia as part of a ‘soft opening’ in collaboration with Hextar Industries Berhad.

Sentiment on Stocktwits improved to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish’ a week ago. Message volumes were in the ‘normal’ zone compared to ‘low’ in the same period. 

LKNCY sentiment meter and message volumes on Jan 27 as of 4:30 am ET

The new outlets in Malaysia will reportedly serve as pilots paving the way for a large expansion – up to 200 stores over the next three years. The first few Malaysia outlets are reportedly located at Sunway Pyramid and Menara EcoWorld in Kuala Lumpur and are set to open by the end of January.

Luckin has grown at a rapid clip in China, giving competition to Starbucks there with more outlets than the latter. Luckin had opened more than 20,000 outlets as of July 2024.  

The coffee chain may see more investor attention as Starbucks and other US coffee chains are subject to escalating trade tensions between the US and Colombia. Trump recently slapped 25% retaliatory tariffs on Colombia's imports among other measures, according to media reports.

Many Stocktwits users were upbeat on Luckin Coffee amid the tariffs.

For its fourth-quarter, Luckin is expected to report earnings per share of $0.02 on revenues of $1.34 billion, according to Stocktwits data.

Luckin Coffee stock is up 7.09% year-to-date.

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