Darden Restaurants, Inc. DRI is one of the largest casual dining restaurant operators. Beginning fiscal fourth quarter 2015, the company began reporting its business in four segments: Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Fine Dining, which includes The Capital Grille and Eddie V's, and Other Business.
Most of Darden’s brands have been witnessing growth over the past three to four quarters on the back of sales initiatives like simplifying kitchen systems, improving sales planning and scheduling, developing new core menu items and technology-driven moves such as the implementation of tablets. Also, efforts to curb costs an aggressive cost management plan are commendable.
Moreover, the company’s Olive Garden Brand Renaissance plan – aimed to turn around its business – has started reaping benefits.
The company’s earnings have been strong over the past few quarters. In fact, the company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 15.69%.
Moreover, investors should note that the consensus estimate for DRI has been moving slightly upwards over the last 60 days. Currently, DRI has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) but that could change following Darden’s earnings report which was just released. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:
Earnings: Darden reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings per share of $1.10, higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.08 per share.
Revenues: Darden reported revenues of $1.79 billion, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.81 billion.
Key Stats to Note: The company posted comps growth of 2.6% for fiscal fourth-quarter 2016, on a comparable calendar basis. All the brands posted positive comps in the quarter.
For fiscal 2017, Darden expects adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.80 to $3.90 per share.
Stock Price Impact: In-active in pre-market trading.
Check back later for our full write up on this DRI earnings report later!
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Be the first to comment