Starbucks Corp., the world's largest coffee-shop chain, said it plans to more than triple its number of stores to 40,000 worldwide, 10,000 more than the previous target.

"Our global opportunity is much greater than we originally thought," chief executive officer Jim Donald said yesterday at a conference with analysts in Seattle. He said when he joined Starbucks in 2002, the company had 5,886 stores. "I thought 'Wow, I missed it. I missed the run.' I figured, 'Let's see where we can go from here.' "

The company also announced an agreement with Apple Computer Inc. that will allow Starbucks to sell music played in its stores on Apple's iTunes online store.

Starbucks is adding locations at a record pace to keep customers from buying coffees and lattes at Dunkin' Donuts Inc. and other chains. The company is selling warm egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwiches and lunch fare to boost revenue. Starbucks this week reported that September same-store sales rose 6 percent, the most in three months.

The company didn't give a time frame for the expansion. Half the stores will be located in the United States and half overseas as Donald tries to challenge Yum! Brands Inc. and McDonald's Corp. for the title of world's biggest restaurant company. Starbucks had 12,440 stores as of Oct. 1.

Shares of Starbucks rallied $2.73, or 7.6 percent, to $38.69 as of 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading for their biggest increase since February. They reached a record $39.63 on May 5.

Starbucks plans to enter four international markets in the coming year -- Brazil, Egypt, India and Russia -- bringing the total to 40 overseas markets, said Martin Coles, president of Starbucks International.

The company trimmed its goal for international markets to "low 50s" from a previous target of 57 by 2011 in order to focus its "efforts on developing the markets where we already do business," Coles said.

"Starbucks is nowhere near saturation in the U.S., and they've barely scratched the surface internationally," Don Gher, chief investment officer at Coldstream Capital Management in Bellevue, Wash., said before the announcement. The firm has $1 billion in assets, including Starbucks shares.

Starbucks' current locations include 8,800 in the United States and 3,600 internationally. Yum has about 34,000 KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and other restaurants, while McDonald's has 31,000 locations.

The company may get 18 percent of total sales this year from overseas, up from 13 percent five years ago, Larry Miller, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a Sept. 13 research note.

The Starbucks expansion may result in declining sales at the company's existing stores as its shops compete against each other, John Glass, an analyst at CIBC World Markets, wrote in a note to investors on Monday.

Chairman Howard Schultz, who conceived of the idea of opening a chain of coffee shops during a trip to Italy, has said new stores opened near existing Starbucks may take away 20 percent to 30 percent of an older store's revenue. The rate typically drops to less than 10 percent within a year, he said.

Starbucks' September sales surpassed analysts' estimates and followed a 5 percent increase in August and a 4 percent July gain.

Under the Apple agreement, music that Starbucks helps produce and promote, as well as songs they play in their stores, will be sold on iTunes, said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment.

"Here you have two incredible brands that are providing a shot in the arm" for the music industry, Lombard said.

Starbucks didn't pay a fee to iTunes under the agreement, Starbucks chief financial officer Michael Casey said. Prices for Starbucks-selected offerings will be "consistent" with iTunes pricing of 99 cents per song, he said.