There’s upside ahead for this stock as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Nasdaq 100 hit an intraday record early in the day Thursday before ending the day down 0.8%.
The index, which is made up of the 100-largest nonfinanciial stocks in the Nasdaq Composite, dropped more than -30% between the market top on February 19 and the bottom on March 23. But since then, the Nasdaq 100 has gained more than 37% and now sits just under -1% from its all-time high.
The tech-heavy index includes names like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL, GOOG), and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX).
All of these stocks have surged higher since the March 23 bottom, with Apple up nearly 52%, Amazon up 38%, Cisco up 39%, Facebook up 59%, Alphabet up 40%, and Starbucks up 46%.
But there’s one stock in the bunch two experts say can continue to surge higher and regain old highs: Starbucks.
“If we take a look at the weekly chart, you could see that the sell-off during the COVID crisis was significant,” said Todd Gordon, managing director at Ascent Wealth Partners.
“It did hold up trend support in that parallel channel,” Gordon continued. “The [relative strength index of momentum] got very oversold. But, again, support held and we don’t have resistance, if and when this pandemic passes, up until about $110.”
Moving on to the daily chart for Starbucks, Gordon noted that the stock could soon get a “caffeine shot” of momentum that could push it up toward $100 if it’s able to break above its short-term resistance around $80.
Starbucks shares are -1.5% below that $80 level as of Thursday’s close.
“From a quick fundamental point of view, Starbucks was growing, I think, the fastest in four years before COVID-19 happened,” Gordon said. “There’s been some developments in China. A lot of the cafes are back open. They had a little bit of fraudulent activity with Luckin. Starbucks is recapturing some of that share. So, we’re generally bullish once this thing begins to pass.”
Michael Bapis, managing director of Vios Advisors at Rockefeller Capital Management, also likes Starbucks and credits the company’s “nimble” management team.
“Coffee was supposed to be recession-proof business and I think they got caught off guard a little bit, which is why the innovation of the management team is so important,” Bapis said. “They were crushed by the pandemic, but we see opportunity here. They’re reinventing themselves with curbside pickup and other different innovations during these slow times.”
Starbucks shares sank more than -45% between late January and March 23 at the bottom of the market as its cafes were shuttered around the globe due to the coronavirus.
Late last month, the coffee giant reported that customers are beginning to return to its cafes in the U.S. and China, and CEO Kevin Johnson wrote in a note to employees that the company has regained around 60-65% of its U.S. same-store sales as more than 85% of its cafes around the U.S. reopen.
“Our recovery progresses each week, and we know that it will take time to fully recover and post positive comparable store sales growth,” Johnson said in the note.