Starbucks is back — at least, that’s what executives said at the company’s investor presentation in New York City on Thursday.

“Starbucks is back today,” Chief Brand Officer Tressie Lieberman said. “One in three consumers say that Starbucks is their first choice for coffee or tea away from home.”

Her proclamation comes more than a year after CEO Brian Niccol joined the company and kicked off a turnaround strategy, of course named “Back to Starbucks.” The plan largely took aim at improving the coffee chain’s in-store experience, after years of prioritizing mobile orders and profits at the expense of customers and employees. The strategy included small touches, like reintroducing the condiment bar and requiring baristas to use Sharpies to write personal messages, and bigger investments, like staffing more baristas and revamping its cafes.

The company’s latest financial results seem to show that customers are coming back, and the turnaround is taking hold. As a result, this year, Starbucks plans to look forward, rather than back.

“In fiscal 2026, we’re going to be shifting to play offense and to innovate,” Niccol said on Thursday. “We’re not finished with our ‘Back to Starbucks’ plan or our broader transformation, but I am confident in our strategy, our progress, the pace of change and the opportunity ahead of us.”

By fiscal 2028, the coffee chain is projecting global and U.S. same-store sales will grow at least 3%, revenue will rise at least 5% and earnings per share of $3.35 to $4.

“This is just a waypoint in our turnaround. Our ambitions extend well beyond this timeline,” Niccol said.

In the coming months, Starbucks plans to reintroduce tiers to its loyalty program, launch Energy Refreshers and more efficient espresso machines, all with the aim of meeting those new financial targets.

Starbucks investors did not appear as confident as executives Thursday: shares of the company slid more than 1% in morning trading. The stock has fallen about 12% over the last year, dragging Starbucks’ market value down to about $109 billion. In addition to skepticism about the company’s turnaround, investor concerns about the broader pullback in consumer spending and higher coffee prices have weighed on the company’s valuation.

The investor day comes a day after the company released its fiscal first-quarter earnings report.

For the first time in two years, the coffee chain’s traffic rose, fueling same-store sales growth of 4%. A year ago, the company’s same-store sales fell 4% as transactions shrank 6%.

The company has made progress on some of its goals, like making every drink in under four minutes, CEO Brian Niccol said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday morning.

“This is really just the beginning,” Niccol said of the company’s turnaround.

But while Starbucks’ turnaround strategy is bearing fruit on the top line, investments in its restaurants and labor weighed on profits during its fiscal first quarter. The company’s quarterly earnings per share missed Wall Street’s estimates.

Executives on Wednesday also shared the company’s first annual forecast since Niccol suspended its outlook more than a year ago, shortly after taking the helm at Starbucks. For fiscal 2026, Starbucks is projecting adjusted earnings per share in a range of $2.15 to $2.40 and global and U.S. same-store sales growth of at least 3%.

Menu changes like protein cold foam have helped Starbucks draw both loyal and infrequent customers, Niccol told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. Ahead, the company has more menu innovation on deck, plus changes to its rewards program and an improved digital experience, he added.

Much of that innovation will, of course, focus on Starbucks’ drinks. This spring, the coffee chain plans to launch a premium, sugar-free version of its chai, Lieberman said during the investor presentation.

Starbucks is also going to introduce Energy Refreshers, the latest expansion of its $2 billion drink line. The new additions will contain more caffeine than the original Refreshers, which give drinkers roughly the same boost as a caffeinated soda.

Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, a critic of COVID-19 vaccines, has been named second-in-command at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While there has not been an official announcement about Abraham’s role, a CDC spokesperson confirmed with CBS News Atlanta that he was listed in the Atlanta-based agency’s address book as principal deputy director. A Health and Human Services spokesperson has also confirmed his appointment.

Abraham, a 70-year-old former Republican congressman and doctor from rural northeast Louisiana, served three terms in the House of Representatives before losing his bid for governor in 2019. He was appointed surgeon general in December 2023.

In February, Abraham ordered his staff to stop engaging in media campaigns and community health fairs to encourage vaccinations, saying in a memo that the Louisiana Department of Health “will no longer promote mass vaccination.” The announcement was made the same day that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in to serve as President Trump’s health secretary.

In a letter posted on the Louisiana Department of Health’s website, Abraham decried “blanket government mandates” for vaccines and criticized the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccination push, saying individuals should make their own decisions about vaccinations.

“Government should admit the limitations of its role in people’s lives and pull back its tentacles from the practice of medicine,” Abraham argued.

Dr. Nirav Shah, an epidemiologist who served in the position under former President Biden’s administration, criticized the appointment on X.

“Dr. Abraham has been on the wrong side of several important public health issues over the past decade,” Shah wrote. “His track record, which includes undermining confidence in vaccines and minimizing the risk of outbreaks, disqualifies him from steering an agency charged with protecting all Americans.”

Abraham’s appointment comes as Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has intensified attacks on some components used in vaccinations. Earlier this month, a CDC webpage was updated with language claiming that studies have not ruled out linking vaccines to the development of autism. Kennedy later told the New York Times in an interview that he personally directed the agency to update the page.

The CDC has remained without a permanent director since August, after Kennedy fired Dr. Susan Monarez less than a month after the Senate confirmed her to lead the agency. Monarez testified in front of Congress in September that Kennedy had pressured her to change CDC guidance over childhood vaccinations.

CBS News Atlanta has attempted to reach out to Abraham for comment on his appointment and will update the story if we receive one.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A procession of mothers wearing red sashes, pushing strollers and tending to toddlers, made their way Friday to a little festival in Flint, Michigan, where families received diapers and kids played.

It was called a “baby parade.”

The sashes indicated the women were participants of a growing program in Michigan that helps pregnant women and new moms by giving them cash over the first year of their children’s lives. Launched in 2024, the program comes at a time when many voters worry over high child care costs and President Donald Trump’s administration floats policy to reverse the declining birth rate.

Backed by a mix of state, local and philanthropic money, Rx Kids gives mothers of newborns up to $7,500, with no income requirements and no rules for how the money is spent. Supporters believe the program could be a model for mitigating the high cost of having children in the U.S.

“There’s all kinds of reasons, no matter what your political affiliation or ideology is, to support this,” said state Sen. John Damoose, a Republican and ardent supporter of the program.

To qualify, women need to prove they live in a participating location and that they are pregnant, but don’t have to share details about their income.

It’s designed to be simple.

Pregnant women receive $1,500 before delivery and $500 every month for the first six to 12 months of their babies’ lives, depending on the program location.

Dr. Mona Hanna, a pediatrician, associate dean for public health at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and the program’s founding director, said that window is a time of great economic vulnerability for new parents — and a critical developmental period for babies.

Most participants need diapers, formula, breastfeeding supplies and baby clothes, but every family’s needs are different. The monthly payment can also help buy food and cover rent, utilities and transportation.

For some moms, the extra cash allows them to afford child care and return to work. For others, it allows them to stay home longer.

The program so far is available in Flint, Pontiac, Kalamazoo and five counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. By fall, it will expand to a rural central Michigan county and several cities near Detroit.

Hanna said the main piece of feedback she hears is that the program should be bigger. She’s heard from lawmakers and others hoping to start similar programs in other states.

Hanna said the program’s data shows nearly all pregnant women in Flint have signed up since it became available.

The locations were designed to target low-income families, though there is no income requirement. Luke Shaefer, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan and a co-founder of Rx Kids, said they wanted to eliminate any stigma or barriers that discourage people from signing up.

The founders also want mothers to feel celebrated, hence the parade on Friday.

“For so long, moms have been vilified and not supported,” Hanna said.

Friends told Angela Sintery, 44, about Rx Kids when she found out she was pregnant with her second child. She’s a preschool teacher who spread the word to other parents.

Sintery had her first daughter 19 years before her second and had to buy all new baby supplies.

She said the cash provided by Rx Kids would have been helpful when she had her first child at age 24, before she went to college.

“So this time around, I didn’t have to stress about anything. I just had to worry about my baby,” she said.

Celeste Lord-Timlin, a Flint resident and program participant, attended the baby parade with her husband and 13-month-old daughter by her side. She said the deposits helped her pay for graduate school while she was pregnant.

“It allowed us to really enjoy being new parents,” she said.

The program relies heavily on philanthropic donations, but Hanna’s long-term goal is for the government to be the main provider.

“I see philanthropy as the doula of this program; they are helping birth it,” she said. “They are helping us prove that this is possible.”

Democrats in Michigan’s state Senate introduced legislation in February that would make the program available to any pregnant woman in the state and it has bipartisan support. But with a divided Legislature only able to pass six bills total this year, it’s unlikely the program will yet expand statewide soon.

Even Damoose, among the program’s top backers, said he doesn’t think Michigan can afford statewide expansion yet. But the lawmaker who represents parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan does want to keep growing it.

For fellow Republicans who oppose abortion as he does, the approach is a “no-brainer” way to help pregnant women, Damoose said.

“We’ve been accused for years and years, and not without cause, of being pro-birth, but not pro-life,” he said. “And this is a way for us to put our money where our mouth is.”

A new movement of pro-natalist political figures, including Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and other members of Trump’s periphery, have harped on the country’s declining birth rate.

But a recent Associated Press-NORC poll found that most Americans want the government to focus on the high costs of child care, not just the number of babies being born here.

Under Trump’s tax and spending bill that Congress passed in July, the child tax credit is boosted from $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200. But millions of families at lower income levels will not get the full credit.

The bill will also create a new children’s savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.

That’s not available until children grow up and is more focused on building wealth rather than immediate relief, Hanna said.

“We don’t have that social infrastructure to invest in our families,” Hanna said. “No wonder people aren’t having children and our birth rates are going down.”

The Trump administration has also toyed with the idea of giving families one-time $5,000 “baby bonuses,” a policy similar to Rx Kids.

Critics have rightly pointed out that it doesn’t come close to covering the cost of child care or other expenses. Defenders of a cash-in-hand approach, though, say any amount can help in those critical early months.

“I think it’s part of a new narrative or the rekindling of an old narrative where we start to celebrate children and families,” said Damoose.

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