Starbucks profit meets Wall Street view, shares fall

By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp reported quarterly profit that matched Wall Street's estimate on Thursday, but shares fell 3.4 percent in extended trading after spending growth by customers in its core U.S. market cooled.

The world's biggest coffee chain said the average amount spent per order was up 4 percent in the United States during the fiscal second quarter, versus 5 percent in the prior quarter.

Sales at U.S. cafes open at least 13 months were up 3 percent for the quarter ended April 2, unchanged from the prior quarter. Traffic, referred to as transactions, fell 2 percent for the second quarter in a row amid a stubborn industry-wide slump.

Net income attributed to Starbucks was $652.8 million, or 45 cents per share, for the second quarter, up from $575.1 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier. Results from the latest quarter matched the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of Starbucks fell $2.10 to $59.20 in after-hours trade.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)