15 April 2009 - Deutsche Bank downgraded Starbucks Corp to "sell" from "hold," saying McDonald's national rollout of the McCafe specialty-coffee product line will hurt the world's largest coffee chain operator, sending its shares down as much as 6 percent.
"We expect McDonald's will extract a significant toll on Starbucks' performance, beginning this summer in earnest," analyst Marc Greenberg wrote in a note to clients. "McCafe is a game-changer in coffee."
McDonald's Corp , the world's largest fast-food chain, is expected to rollout the McCafe product line to nearly 14,000 restaurants in the U.S. by mid-2009.
"We expect same-store sales will continue to suffer through FY09 from the weak state of the consumer, Starbucks premium prices and positioning, and the large store base," the analyst said.
Shares of Seattle-based Starbucks were down 29 cents at $11.58 in morning trade Tuesday on Nasdaq. They touched a low of $11.13 earlier.