Starbucks Drops on Sales, Earnings Forecasts: U.S. After-Hours

Starbucks Corp. fell 8.8 percent in extended trading after the world's largest chain of coffee shops lowered its sales and earnings forecasts after U.S. customer visits declined.

Starbucks shares lost $2.11 to $21.99 as of 5:29 p.m. in New York. Before the close, the stock had dropped 32 percent this year, compared with a 12 percent loss for the Standard & Poor's 500 Consumer Discretionary Index.

Earnings will increase 21 percent at most next year, Starbucks said. That's less than its prior forecast of a 22 percent gain.

Kohl's Corp. declined after the fourth-largest U.S. department-store company said profit fell for the first time in 3 1/2 years and lowered its 2007 earnings forecast as sales growth slowed. Third-quarter net income dropped 14 percent to $194 million, or 61 cents a share, beating its own lowered forecast.

Kohl's fell $1.07, or 2.2 percent, to $47.85. The stock is down 29 percent this year.

Autodesk Inc., the largest maker of design software used in construction and engineering, fell $2.17, or 4.6 percent, to $45.29. The company forecast earnings for the current period and the fiscal first quarter that may prompt analysts to reduce their estimates.

December futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.4 to 1,457.5. Nasdaq-100 Index futures climbed 1.75 to 2,035.25.

In regular trading, U.S. stocks fell for a second day after Wells Fargo & Co. said the housing market is the worst since the Great Depression and investors speculated Fannie Mae masked credit-market losses in its latest earnings report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 120.96, or 0.9 percent, to 13,110.05, weighed down by a 4.1 percent slide in Citigroup after the biggest U.S. bank sold $4 billion of 10-year notes at the highest yield relative to benchmarks in its history. The S&P 500 lost 19.43, or 1.3 percent, to 1,451.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 25.81, or 1 percent, to 2,618.51. More than three stocks dropped for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
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