Starbucks shares retreat the most in two weeks on Friday, social media boycott campaign has not hurt business, retailer says

On March 10th Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) said that the boycott campaign on the social media, following the retailer’s decision to hire 10 000 refugees worldwide in five years, has not done any harm to the brand.

Starbucks shares registered their largest daily slump since February 27th on Friday, while also marking their seventh consecutive session of losses. The stock went down 1.20% ($0.66) to $54.53, after touching an intraday low at $54.42, or a price level not seen since February 3rd ($54.01). In the week ended on March 12th the shares of the coffee chain lost 4.50% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked a second consecutive period of decrease and also the worst performance since the week ended on April 24th 2016. The stock has extended its slump to 4.11% so far during the current month, following a 2.99% surge in February. For the entire past year, the shares of the NASDAQ-listed retailer lost 7.51%.

It was on January 29th, when Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ Chief Executive Officer, announced that the coffee chain intended to hire 10 000 refugees in 75 countries within a period of five years. The news came two days after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order, which suspended entry in the US of all refugees for a certain period of time. Starbucks’ announcement caused a commotion on social networks, as individuals were reported to have used #BoycottStarbucks in order to influence customers’ decision of visiting the retailer’s stores.

However, according to Kantar Millward Brown, a research company, which has provided continuous Brand Equity measurement for Starbucks for four years now, the coffee chain has not been hurt by a visitor backlash in regard to its announcement in late January.

“In February 2017 — after the announcement — we did not observe any substantive impact on Customer Consideration, Future Visitation Intent or Brand Perceptions or any other key performance metrics for the Starbucks brand”, Brian James, the President of Kantar Millward Browns brand and communications practice, wrote in a letter, cited by Reuters.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the Starbucks stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $54.62
R2 – $54.71
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $54.80
R4 (Long Breakout) – $55.07
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $55.38
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $55.51

S1 – $54.44
S2 – $54.35
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $54.26
S4 (Short Breakout) – $53.99
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $53.68
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $53.55

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $55.35
R1 – $56.28
R2 – $58.03
R3 – $58.96
R4 – $59.89

S1 – $53.60
S2 – $52.67
S3 – $50.92
S4 – $49.17