Laffer Tengler’s Nancy Tengler said she’s enthused to still be holding Starbucks with new management at the helm, a name she said was on the chopping block. Starbucks sent shockwaves through the business world on Tuesday with its announcement that Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol would take the same role at the coffee chain, replacing Laxman Narasimhan. While Starbucks shareholders and Wall Street rejoiced , it’s a double-edged sword for Tengler as a holder of both stocks. “Investing is like being in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction,” Tengler said on CNBC’s “The Exchange.” “While I cheered the move of Brian to Starbucks this morning, I mourned it at the loss at Chipotle.” Starbucks shares surged more than 20% and were seeing massive trading volumes in Tuesday’s session. Chipotle, on the other hand, slipped more than 9% in midday trading. Chipotle is included in Tengler’s portfolio of her 12 best ideas. While the CEO said she’ll have to think about if there’s any changes on how she plays these stocks, she noted Chipotle has been a “monster performer for good reason.” The stock has soared more than 770% since Niccol took helm of Chipotle in March 2018, making it one of the best performers in the S & P 500 over that time period. CMG SBUX 5Y mountain Chipotle vs. Starbucks, 5 years For Starbucks, she called the change “fabulous,” given the Seattle-based company nabbed a leader who has experience in digitization and transforming online ordering. Now having both a strong chief executive and a solid brand identity, she said investors should start to see improvements at the margins quickly. To be sure, Starbucks investors had to go through pain to get to this point. Heading into Tuesday’s opening bell, the stock was down about 22% compared with when Narasimhan, the outgoing Starbucks CEO, took over in March 2023. By comparison, Chipotle climbed around 74% in the same time frame. “I’m just happy that we own it,” she said of Starbucks following the news. “It was tempting to sell it, that’s for sure.” — CNBC’s Robert Hum and Tom Rotunno contributed to this report.
