Coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) has long had issues with unionization. Though the Starbucks Workers United union is a vanishingly small part of Starbucks, there are some signs it is growing. Perhaps not as fast as the union might like, but growth is potentially in the cards. Starbucks Workers United won one victory, but lost something much potentially larger. Starbucks investors, however, were more pleased about this, and sent Starbucks shares up fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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The loss was at the Pike Place Market coffeehouse in Seattle. Starbucks employees there were set to vote on joining a union just recently, but at the last minute, Starbucks Workers United actually pulled out of there, leaving the Pike Place Market vote a non-starter. Reports noted that the union pulled out due to an unfair labor practice charge against Starbucks. That charge was related to the attempt to unionize itself, a charge of interference with organizing.
However, Starbucks Workers United did land a new win, as the Starbucks in Bakersfield, California—on Niles and Shalimar, reports note—voted to unionize. The workers there were seeking what workers typically seem to when they vote in the union: better staffing, safer conditions, improved take-home pay and secured benefits.
“Whatever Your Thing, We’re In”
Meanwhile, Starbucks Chilled Coffee is taking a step up in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) market with a new platform called “Whatever Your Thing, We’re In.” The idea is to position ready-to-drink products as “…a companion to individuality.”
The idea makes a certain amount of sense. There are comparatively few elements where a cold drink does not accompany the action well, from sports and movies to games and hobbies of all sorts. In fact, one of the promotional materials that accompanies this plan features longboard skater Jikal Hassan skateboarding through a cityscape.
Is Starbucks Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on SBUX stock based on 16 Buys, 12 Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 29.84% rally in its share price over the past year, the average SBUX price target of $107.96 per share implies 2.64% upside potential.
