“The Magic of Coffee”: Starbucks Stock (NASDAQ:SBUX) Slips Despite New Ad Campaign

Advertising is a vital part of business. Whether it is a word-of-mouth whispering campaign or a full-press ad campaign capped off with a Super Bowl ad, advertising gets the word out. Coffee giant Starbucks SBUX -0.15% ▼ is no exception, and its latest ad looks to drive interest in coming back to Starbucks with help from a little coffee magic. Investors were less convinced, based on the fractional drop in Starbucks shares seen in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.

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Starbucks’ ambitions to recast itself as the “third place” it once was, before a pandemic tore down the notion like a poster for a show long over, shine through in the ad. The ad puts particular focus on craft and human connection, taking coffee beans from branch to grinder, interspersed with images of baristas putting the coffee together. All of this is done to Loaded Honey’s Tokyo Rain playing in the background.

Director David Gelb declared that this ad was meant to be “…a tribute…” to coffee. Gelb further noted, “From Turkish sand coffee to siphon brewing to a perfectly pulled espresso, every culture has its own sacred relationship with this drink. What the barista does every day is continue that tradition — with care, with precision, with a kind of quiet magic.”

Schultz Abandons Washington Too

Remember when we got word of Starbucks pulling some jobs out of Washington state to route them to Tennessee instead? It turns out that was not the only Starbucks abandoning Washington. Former CEO Howard Schultz recently dropped $44 million for a penthouse at the Four Seasons Private Residences in Surfside, Florida.

Schultz himself noted that this was a move that would let him and wife Sheri move for their “next adventure together.” Interestingly, this move also comes literally hours after Washington state lawmakers advanced a bill that would tax annual income of over $1 million at an additional 9.9%. So if that rate went in for corporate entities as well, it is easy to wonder if Starbucks itself felt similar qualms about staying in a state like that.

Is Starbucks Stock a Good Buy?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on SBUX stock based on 14 Buys, 10 Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 2.11% rally in its share price over the past year, the average SBUX price target of $100.68 per share implies 0.46% upside potential.

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