Peet's Coffee Continues to Brew Up Tasty Profits...

This is an excerpt from a Barron's blog post of yesterday (April 29, 2009) by Bob O'Brien:

While Starbucks has been putting up double-digit sales declines in recent quarters, Peet's Coffee & Tea (PEET) has grown revenues. The results posted late Thursday showed that Peet's boosted sales nearly 8% in its March-ending first quarter, even though that growth wasn't quite as robust as Wall Street had been expecting. The company affirmed its profit-growth outlook for the year, suggesting that it could grow earnings as much as 25%.

This just isn't a taste issue, although true believers in the Peet's iconology are as adamant that their choice is the real deal as Starbucks' afficionados historically have been. Peet's has amped up its grocery-store footprint, making bags of beans, which consumers use in home kitchens, the engine of its growth.

Photo: flickr (jdong)