MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Shares of Caribou Coffee Co. Inc. slumped Thursday after the company lowered its forecast for 2012 sales due to slowing growth in its single-serving business.
The shares fell $2.50, or 15.2 percent, to $13.99 in regular trading even before the company issued its report. After hours, they fell another 99 cents, or 7.1 percent, to $13.
Through Thursday's close, they had tumbled 26 percent since hitting a 52-week high of $18.84 on April 2, but they remained above the $9 range where they were trading last May.
Caribou operates nearly 600 coffeehouses but also sells coffee in single-serving portions at food stores.
CEO Michael Tattersfield said the single-cup business was still growing, but said that "recent industry trends lead us to believe this business line will experience a moderation in its growth trajectory for the remainder of 2012."
The company now expects 2012 revenue 6 percent to 8 percent higher than its 2011 sales. It earlier forecast a 10 percent increase. For earnings, it now expects 47 cents to 50 cents per share for the year, a penny less than it earlier forecast. Analysts were expecting 56 cents per share.
First-quarter net income was $1.2 million, or 6 cents per share, compared with $24.1 million, or $1.17 per share, a year earlier, when the quarter included a $21.3 million tax benefit.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 7 cents per share.
Revenue rose 11.4 percent, to $80.5 million, but fell short of analysts' average forecast for $81.7 million.
Coffeehouses accounted for about three-fourths of revenue, but their sales rose just 3.7 percent. Sales at cafes open at least a year grew even less, 2.5 percent. That's a key statistic in retailing because it excludes new and closed stores to focus on the ongoing business.
The bigger growth at Caribou — 49.9 percent — was in commercial sales, including coffee for the Keurig single-serve machines and sales to grocery and other food stores.
Shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., which makes single-cup coffee machines and coffee packets, hit a two-year low on Thursday after that company cut its forecast for 2012 profit and sales. Its new earnings target of $2.40 to $2.50 per share was 15 cents below the old forecast and far short of analysts' consensus prediction of $2.65 per share.
Caribou and Green Mountain are in an increasingly competitive business. Earlier this year, Starbucks Corp. announced plans to sell a single-cup brewing machine and wants to sell more coffee packets through other stores.
