After shrugging off some bad news, making a major partner change, and delivering a decent earnings report on Oct. 29, Starbucks(SBUX 0.99%) stock posted a 10.1% gain in October, according to S&P Capital IQ data.
Despite a bit of negative news, investors believe strongly in the potential of the company's Mobile Order & Pay system.
What: Aside from a brief dip in the middle of the month, Starbucks' share price climbed steadily through October. This happened despite a ruling from the European Commission that the company had received improper tax breaks and would have to repay around $34 million in back taxes.
The company is appealing the decision and maintains it did nothing wrong.
"Starbucks complies with all OECD rules, guidelines and laws and supports its tax reform process," spokesman Corey duBrowa said, according to USA TODAY. "Starbucks has paid an average global effective tax rate of roughly 33%, well above the 18.5% average rate paid by other large U.S. companies."
Whether it wins or loses, investors clearly shrugged off the bad news. They also appeared to take it as a positive that the company ended its digital payment processing agreement with Square in favor of one with Chase Commerce Solutions, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
So what: Otherwise, Starbucks has been enjoying a lot of positive press for its Mobile Order & Pay system, a service that rolled out nationally on Sept. 22. On launch day, Starbucks digital chief Adam Brotman spoke to Geekwire and laid out how the initial test of the service went.
"It's been going better than we thought in terms of the results, both from the customer standpoint and partner execution," he said. "Customers are loving it and understanding it, partners are executing well in terms of making orders for customers, so the actual process of rolling out has gone better than we thought."
The mobile ordering system, in its early trials, increased sales, though the company did not provide hard data. It's clear just by sampling it, however, that Mobile Order & Pay should make lines shorter and make it easier for customers to get served during busy times, allowing stores to increase sales volume.
Now what: Starbucks stock had a good month, and there is reason to believe the rally will continue since, even though it reported softer than expected profits for the quarter due to increased employee and digital costs, the future appears bright.
The company expects full-year consolidated revenue growth of 10% or more on a 52-week basis (this fiscal year for the company having a 53rd week will add another 2%). The company also expects global comparable-store sales growth somewhat above mid-single digits and a slight fiscal year 2016 operating margin increase over the prior year.