Jefferies analyst Andy Barish weighed in on the stock
Coffee chain Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) tagged a new record high of $84.68 out of the gate on a bull note out of Jefferies, but was last seen down 0.2% at $84.05. Analyst Andy Barish lifted SBUX's price target to a Street-high $96 from $89, representing a healthy 14% premium to Friday's close of $84.24. Barish said while uncertainty surrounding U.S.-China trade lingers, it's a low risk to Starbucks, and the company's size and brand strength "should help [it] weather potential, if any, backlash."
Longer term on the charts, Starbucks stock has had no problem climbing higher. In fact, heading into today's trading, SBUX was already sporting a year-to-date lead of 30.8%, and has seen support at its 60-day moving average for most of 2019.
Analyst sentiment is nearly split down the middle, with a slight pessimistic tilt. Thirteen of the 24 firms following Starbucks sport a tepid "hold" rating, while the stock's average 12-month price target of $79.13 comes in 6% below Friday's close. Should the stock continue to climb, a round of upgrades and/or more price-target hikes could draw fresh buyers to the table.
Looking at options, data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows SBUX with a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.84, ranking just 3 percentage points from an annual high. In other terms, puts have been purchased over calls at a quicker-than-usual clip during the past two weeks of trading.
SBUX stock has certainly been an attractive target for premium buyers over the last 12 months. Its Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 85 (out of 100) suggests the coffee name has regularly exceeded options traders' volatility expectations over the past year.