06:35 AM EDT, 04/30/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Starbucks ( SBUX ) shares dropped early Wednesday as its fiscal second-quarter earnings declined more than market expectations amid a challenging consumer environment, but the coffee giant's senior management expressed confidence about its ongoing turnaround efforts.

The company reported adjusted earnings of $0.41 a share for the quarter ended March 30, down from $0.68 the year before, it said late Tuesday. The consensus on FactSet was for non-GAAP EPS of $0.49. Revenue increased 2.3% year over year to $8.76 billion, but was below the Street's view for $8.83 billion.

Global comparable store sales decreased 1%, compared with a 0.8% decline modeled by analysts, driven by a 2% fall in transactions, partially offset by a 1% increase in average ticket. The stock slid 6.7% in premarket activity.

"Our (second-quarter) results are disappointing, especially as measured by EPS, but behind the scenes, we made a lot of progress and have real momentum with our Back to Starbucks ( SBUX ) plan," Chief Executive Brian Niccol said during an earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. "At this stage in our turnaround, EPS shouldn't be used as a measure of our success."

The coffee chain has begun making "disciplined investments" across its stores, customer experience, marketing and menu, according to Niccol. The company is also focused on managing costs and improving its financial fundamentals to return to growth, and has already started to see early recovery indicators in its North American business, Niccol said on the call.

US same-store sales moved down 2%, with transaction decline "improving" during the quarter, Chief Financial Officer Cathy Smith told analysts. International comparable sales were up 2%, while China remained flat. The company opened 213 new stores around the globe.

"We don't know what the state of the consumer will be in the months to come, but I'm confident we're building a globally resilient business," the CEO said on the call. "Our turnaround is on track and I see more opportunity than I imagined."

Starbucks ( SBUX ) expects its third-quarter top line to "follow normal seasonality" and may see "additional restructuring costs in the near term" as it evaluates its store portfolio and operations, Smith said on the call.

Regarding the evolving tariff environment, Smith said the company is "actively managing and mitigating" potential risks. "Excluding coffee, our largest areas of tariff exposure include merchandise currently sourced from China and some imported beverage components," according to the CFO. "For these impacted areas, we are actively working on strengthening our supply chain, including localizing and moving production as needed."

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on imports from several nations, including China and Japan. Trump later declared a 90-day pause on duties for non-retaliating countries. However, the US and China have been in a deadlock, having raised tariffs on each other's goods multiple times.