We are selling 50 shares of Starbucks at roughly $115. Following the trade, Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust will own 950 shares of SBUX, decreasing its weighting to 3.05% from about 3.2%. We are locking in big profits on our Starbucks position now that we are not restricted from trading the stock. During Thursday’s morning meeting , Jim said he would trim the position if not restricted. Starbucks has been a big winner these first two months of 2025. Its 25% gain puts it as the sixth-best gainer in the S & P 500 , which is roughly flat for the year. The stock extended its lead over the broader market with a 2% gain compared to a 2% drop in the S & P 500 this week. The rally comes as we continue to see more signs of progress in CEO Brian Niccol’s turnaround strategy. Niccol’s main task is to restore same store sales growth in the United States, but news this week also shows he is laser-focused on improving the business’s cost structure. On Monday, the company announced it was eliminating 1,100 corporate jobs and several hundred additional open and unfilled positions. Analysts at Wells Fargo estimated in a research note Tuesday that the layoffs could be worth an annualized $200 million in savings, or roughly 13 cents to earnings per share. Although the good news at Starbucks keeps coming in, it’s prudent to lock in some gains and peel the position back from time to time on the stock’s way up because turnarounds are difficult. We have the upmost confidence in Niccol because he is the best operator in the industry, but speed bumps are bound to happen. From this sale, we will realize a gain of about 35% on stock purchased in August 2022. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long SBUX. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
