NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Investors were rushing to cash their shares of Starbucks Corp. after Wednesday's close. The company earlier said same-store sales rose only 8 percent in August, the first time in nine months that the trendy retailer's growth fell below double digits.
The world's largest coffee-shop chain said ongoing demand for a new line of summer drinks, including an ice-blended "light" version of the company's popular Frappuccino coffee drink, helped lift revenue to $418 million for the four weeks ended Aug. 22, up 25 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Starbucks, which is preparing to raise coffee prices beginning Oct. 4, has been posting double-digit gains in same-store sales since November 2003. But Chairman Howard Schultz said that growth was above expectations.
The company also said the number of Starbucks stores worldwide increased to 8,337 in August, a net gain of 90 stores. The total includes 5,945 U.S. coffee shops and 2,392 international units.
Shares of Starbucks (SBUX: Research, Estimates) fell to $44 on the INET electronic brokerage system, from their $46.04 Nasdaq close.
But educational services provider Apollo Group (APOL: Research, Estimates) rose more than 4 percent after offering an outlook for the first quarter and all of fiscal 2005, forecasting a rise in degree-bound enrollments.
Shares of Apollo Group rose to $76.35 in after-hours trading from a close of $73.34 on Nasdaq.
Dollar Tree Stores, a discount retailer, edged down. The company posted slightly higher second-quarter earnings despite a drop in same-store sales and said full-year sales could miss analysts' estimates.
Shares of Dollar Tree Stores (DLTR: Research, Estimates) slipped to $24.50, from their $24.95 Nasdaq close.
Meanwhile, shares of Michaels Stores fell after the company said its fourth-quarter results would fall short of analysts' average expectations.
The world's largest arts and crafts retailer said quarterly net profit rose 10 percent as it drew more customers to its craft stores.
Shares of Michaels (MIK: Research, Estimates) fell to $53.50 on the INET electronic brokerage system from $55.72 at its close on the New York Stock Exchange.
Thursday will be a light day for economic news, but the Department of Labor will release a key report in the morning: its weekly initial and continued jobless claims survey.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment is forecast to have risen to 335,000 last week from 331,000 the previous week, according to Briefing.com.
But investors will be more likely to pay attention to Friday's revised second-quarter gross domestic product figures.
-- from staff and wire reports
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