Drive-thru coffee chain Dutch Bros' (BROS) was likely impacted by California's abnormally wet weather.

"We believe comp[arable] trends in the first quarter have been impacted by adverse weather events on the West Coast, particularly in CA," Stifel analyst Chris O'Cull said in a note to investors. Approximately 18% to 19% of Dutch Bros' total locations are located in California, and O'Cull said a majority of those were directly impacted by this weather.

"We estimate at least 70% of the company's California locations were located in areas that saw total precipitation levels more than double their 10-year averages in the last month of the quarter."

In March, the state saw more severe weather, including a pair of bomb cyclones with hurricane-strength winds and heavy precipitation, which "significantly disrupting normal consumer patterns in the Bay Area and Southern California," O'Cull explained.

Due to the impact of this weather, Stifel lowered its first-quarter company-operated same-store sales projection to flat from 1.0%, lower than Street estimates of 0.8%.

"The company started lapping weaker comps in mid-March, so improvement exiting the first quarter and second-quarter to date will be important for the stock's performance." Year-to-date shares are up 12%.

As far as fiscal year 2023 outlook, Stifel projects same-store sales of 2%, down from 3%, but in line with the company's guidance of approximately low single digits, as reiterated at a recent fireside chat. Dutch Bros also expects revenue to reach $950 million to $1 billion this year.

Also worth noting from O'Cull: How Dutch Bros sizes up to its fellow West Coast-based competitor Starbucks (SBUX).

"Despite softer nominal comps than Starbucks in recent quarters, Dutch Bros has outperformed Starbucks U.S. in terms of traffic," he said.

However, thanks to Starbucks' initiative around "food attachment," when customers add food to their orders, Dutch Bros falls slightly behind Starbucks when it comes to check size. "Despite that relative outperformance, Starbucks has fared better on a nominal comp basis, up 23% to calendar fourth quarter 2019 levels compared to up 15.5% for Dutch Bros," he said.