Starbucks has lost $11 billion market value, and not because of boycotts

Starbucks’s value is down billions of dollars. People online are calling for a boycott of Starbucks. The extent to which these two things are related, if they are at all, is not clear.

One thing is true here: The Seattle-based coffee company is not having a bang-up time heading into the end of the year. Its share price has seen a sharp decline since mid-November, falling by about 9 percent, meaning a decline of some $11 billion in its market cap.

“Starbucks’s stock is experiencing a historic losing streak, influenced by a confluence of factors,” said Siye Desta, equity analyst at CFRA Research, in an email.

Data collected by third parties suggests its foot traffic and sales may be falling short of Wall Street expectations. It’s not necessarily that sales aren’t growing, it’s that they’re not growing as much as investors thought.