Research and Case Studies

Brian Niccol said the Starbucks turnaround was ahead of schedule on October 15, 2025, with the quarter closed and results two weeks from public. Sales went from -2% to +7.9% in a year; the stock rose 31% against peers at +2%. TikTok confirmed the demand and showed where it was coming from.

CAKE's "Linda's Fudge Cake" went viral on TikTok this spring, and our data flagged it as the engine of a demand surge its major peers lacked. On July 28 the company beat earnings by 23%, printed its first billion-dollar quarter on traffic, and the CFO confirmed the exact dish on the call: "eating her fudge cake with your hands in the car... it drives real traffic. We can measure that." The stock more than doubled off its March low.

Shiseido's Tokyo shares ran 35% in five weeks on no news, no analyst actions, and a jump the press did not explain. TikTok and Instagram recorded the same demand wave in real time, and their loudest reading sits in a quarter that has not reported yet.

Posts about Dollar General celebrated not-spending; posts about Ross showed people buying. Dollar General comped +2%, the worst in value retail. Ross comped +17%, its best ever. The split was visible in the narratives before either company reported.

A squishy dumpling toy trend put Five Below's blowout quarter in TikTok data from February. On June 3, management explained the beat by describing our signal back to the Street. The stock still fell on tariffs, a risk TikTok does not measure.