Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) saw its shares slide 8.4% in premarket trading Thursday after the Olive Garden parent reported fiscal first-quarter results that fell short of analysts’ projections, while issuing guidance that just meets consensus estimates.
For the quarter ended August 24, Darden posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.97, below the $2.00 expected by analysts. Revenue came in at $3 billion, slightly under the projected $3.04 billion, despite a year-over-year increase of 10.4%.
Same-restaurant sales rose 4.7% across Darden’s brands. Olive Garden led the gains with a 5.9% increase, followed by LongHorn Steakhouse at 5.5%. Fine Dining was the only segment showing weakness, declining 0.2%. The company’s Other Business segment, which now includes the newly acquired Chuy’s Tex Mex restaurants, posted same-restaurant sales growth of 3.3%.
“We had a strong start to the fiscal year with same-restaurant sales and earnings growth that exceeded our expectations,” said Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas. “The strength of our results is a testament to the power of our strategy.”
Despite the positive commentary from management, investors reacted unfavorably, pushing shares down sharply. Darden reaffirmed its full-year EPS guidance of $10.50 to $10.70, which slightly aligns with the analyst consensus of $10.69 at the upper end.
For fiscal 2026, the company expects total sales growth of 7.5% to 8.5%, including approximately 2% from the 53rd week in the fiscal year. Same-restaurant sales are projected to grow 2.5% to 3.5%, and Darden plans to open around 65 new locations.
During the quarter, the company repurchased roughly 0.9 million shares of common stock for $183 million and declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.50 per share, payable November 3.
Darden Restaurants stock price
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