Wall Street cheers Brian Niccol appointment

Wall Street believes Brian Niccol is the right choice to turn around Starbucks — and move the chain past the decadeslong Howard Schultz era.

Starbucks tapped Niccol as its latest chief executive and chair on Tuesday. Niccol replaces Laxman Narasimhan, who took over the top job in March 2023 after being handpicked by former CEO Schultz. In its last two quarters, Starbucks reported same-store sales declines as its U.S. business floundered. Once he takes over, Niccol will be charged with rejuvenating demand for the company’s coffee.

“In our view, Starbucks picks up a hall of fame restaurant CEO, and his appointment as Starbucks CEO and Chairman suggests a new era is underway,” TD Cowen analyst Andrew Charles wrote in a note to clients, emphasizing the importance of the combined role.

Investors are confident that he can revive the company. Shares of Starbucks climbed 20% in afternoon trading on the news, putting them on pace for their best day since the company’s IPO in 1992. Meanwhile, Chipotle’s stock fell 9% as shareholders bemoaned the loss of the longtime chief executive.

Piper Sandler, TD Cowen and Baird all upgraded Starbucks stock in the wake of the leadership changes.

Other analysts wrote glowingly of Niccol, seeing him as the right person to tackle Starbucks’ sluggish sales. A challenging consumer environment, worsening customer experience and rising competition from smaller coffee shops have hurt the chain’s performance recently.

“We view this as a dream hire for SBUX, and could not think of a more equipped leader to take a fresh look at SBUX’s operations, competitive positioning and overall strategy,” Oppenheimer analyst Brian Bittner said.

Niccol’s hiring could also spell the end of Schultz’s huge influence over the company he turned into a global coffee giant.

“Importantly, Brian is likely the one restaurant executive that has the gravitas to address the Howard Schultz Founder ‘overhang,'” Evercore ISI analyst David Palmer wrote.

Schultz served as CEO from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017 and then from 2022 to 2023, stepping in twice to save the company when sales turned sluggish. His last return sparked concerns about the company’s succession.

At the end of his last stint, he swore that he wouldn’t return as chief executive again, although his presence still looms large over the company. In May, after a brutal quarter for Starbucks, he wrote an open letter on LinkedIn about the company’s challenges and offered advice to its leaders — without naming Narasimhan.

Even after his retirement, Schultz’s involvement in the company has remained “a question hanging over the stock,” Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Harbour wrote in a note Tuesday. Mellody Hobson, who stepped down as Starbucks chair to become lead independent director as part of Tuesday’s leadership shake-up, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that she told Schultz about the discussions with Niccol, keeping him in the loop despite…