Friday, November 6, 2009

Business is picking up at Starbucks coffee shops, between rising customer traffic and additional money being spent.

But it was the company's cost-cutting that boosted Starbucks' quarterly profit. It had fewer stores than a year earlier, and its revenue fell slightly.

Chief Financial Officer Troy Alstead says the average amount customers spent in each visit to Starbucks rose in the period. And he said sales at shops open at least a year recovered from the third quarter and from last year.

Excluding one-time items, Starbucks earned 24 cents a share, topping analyst expectations.

Starbucks shares rose 5% in after-hours trading.