Starbucks sorts investor complaints today

By CRAIG HARRIS
P-I REPORTER

Like other investors in Starbucks Corp., Elizabeth Moon hasn't been thrilled with the company's traditionally high-flying stock taking a considerable slide this year.

Yet the retired Seattle insurance adjuster views the 11 percent drop since the end of 2006 as a blip in the road and says she's looking forward to today's annual meeting in McCaw Hall.

"The stock has gone up the past couple three days, and that is good, because we had a down trend for a while," said Moon, whose investment in the past six years has increased more than 200 percent. "But I think it's a well-run company and one of the things that impresses me is that it treats its employees well."

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Analysts said Schultz also is expected to discuss his now infamous leaked e-mail that lamented the challenges at Starbucks and what he called a "watering down" of the company.

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James Maher, an analyst with San Francisco-based ThinkEquity Partners, expects Schultz to use the meeting to calm investors by confirming growth projections that were announced in October.

At the time, Schultz said Starbucks could grow to 40,000 stores. The company currently has 13,168 stores in 39 countries.

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