Brad Thomas
Founder & Lead Analyst of Wide Moat Research
Dutch Bros has gotten cheaper after a long slide, now under 30x forward EPS with 35% EPS growth and 3.1x current-year sales with revenue growth around 30%. That is roughly Starbucks' price-to-sales despite 30% versus 3% revenue growth, while Cava trades at 4x sales and 69x forward EPS with 27% revenue growth and the same 35% EPS growth. Same-store sales growth remains far ahead of nearly every other company. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Dutch Bros' business is working and the stock has broken its year-long downtrend. Q1 beat, FY26 revenue guidance was raised to $2.05-2.08bn, and new Planet Dutch drinks plus softer input costs are boosting margins; Freedom Capital and DA Davidson raised targets to $95 and $90. The stock is basing in a tight bull flag; holding $62.17 support should resolve it higher toward $74.02, $77.88 and $86.42, while losing it sends it back into the range. x.comÂ
Dutch Bros faces intensifying competition in a coffee market with low barriers to entry, and its valuation is hard to digest even at current levels. 7 Brew, a deep-pocketed, PE-backed copycat, is expanding aggressively, and regional chains such as Summermoon, Foxtail and Lala Land are scaling across the country. Its efficient model and cult service culture leave some potential, but GLP-1 drugs and affordability and gas-price pressures add overhangs. x.comÂ
Dutch Bros now looks like a better and safer bet than chip stocks. x.comÂ
Dutch Bros is set up to turn higher off major support. Its six-month chart is forming a tweezer bottom on record dollar volume, right off its all-time volume point of control and the record $300M dark pool print at $54.40 in January, with 2021-2022 resistance flipping to support. The monthly chart has an open inefficiency from September 2025, and last month repeated the tweezer. @TLAMB91 flags a $1.8M bull call spread targeting $63.95 by June expiry. Last month's low is the invalidation. x.comÂ
Starbucks looks expensive on an estimate-based earnings screen: 29x next year's projected earnings versus 18x for restaurant chains implies a $49.43-$62.91 fair range against $91.43. That forecast is 80% above trailing earnings; this is levels-only work based on reported estimates, not fundamental diligence. x.comÂ
Starbucks looks too expensive for its growth. Even after sales of $9.532B and EPS of $0.50 beat estimates, investors are paying about 80x earnings or 42x forward earnings for only 2-5% growth. x.comÂ
Starbucks still carries a premium valuation even as coffee competition intensifies nationwide, so betting against it is reasonable. Coffee is habitual and generates good cash returns, but barriers to entry are low: deep-pocketed, PE-backed 7 Brew and regional chains like Summermoon and Foxtail are scaling aggressively. @CreditCapi's short case adds that store closures inflated Starbucks' same-store sales growth by 483 bps and that competitor openings cut its traffic 8-10%. x.comÂ
Starbucks is turning around, with good comparable sales and a return to growth after trading sideways for nearly six years. A weekly and monthly breakout above $105 needs to hold and start trending, with a likely multi-day move of up to about 20%. x.com x.comÂ