Starbucks Q2 Earnings Up More Than Expected After Its Higher Prices Offset Costlier Coffee Beans

That extra dime you paid for a tall cup of Pike Place Roast helped Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX) book a higher-than-expected second-quarter profit. The Seattle company on Thursday also raised the low end of its third-quarter earnings per share estimate.

Starbucks, which raised its cafe prices nearly 1 percent and the prices of its grocery store coffee by 8 percent, said revenue in the three months ended June 29 jumped 11 percent and earnings per share surged 22 percent to a record high.

Specifically, the company earned $512.6 million, or 67 cents per share, on revenue of $4.15 billion compared with the year-earlier quarter when it earned $417.8 million, or 55 cents per share, on revenue of $3.74 billion.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg News expected earnings per share of 66 cents.

Starbucks raised the low end of its third-quarter earnings per share estimate to 75 cents from 73 cents and also increased its estimate for 2014 profit to as much as $2.72.