1. Over the past decade, Starbucks coffee shops have become an increasingly familiar part of the urban landscape. In 2013, the company operated more than 17,600 coffee shops in all 50 states, in the District of Columbia, and in international markets, and it had approximately 160,000 employees. Using financial websites such as finance.yahoo.com and money.msn.com, you can access a wealth of financial information for companies such as Starbucks. By entering the companys ticker symbol, SBUX, you will be able to access a great deal of useful information, including a summary of what Starbucks does (Profile), a chart of its recent stock price (Interactive Chart), EPS estimates (Earnings), recent news stories (Headlines), and a list of key financial data and ratios (Key Ratios). In researching a companys operating performance, a good place to start is the recent stock price performance. From an interactive chart, you can obtain a chart of the companys stock price performance and compare it to the overall market (as measured by the S&P 500 index) between 2004 and 2014. As you can see, Starbucks has had its ups and downs. But the companys overall performance has been quite strong, and it has beaten the overall market handily. You can also find Starbuckss recent financial statements (Financials). Typically, you can find annual balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements for 3 to 5 years. Quarterly information is also available.

• After considering the above, you are to explain what it means for a market to be efficient and explain why some stock prices may be more efficient than others.