Olive Garden owner’s earnings top estimates, but revenue falls short

Darden Restaurants, the owner of brands such as Olive Garden, reported mixed quarterly results on Tuesday, but raised its forecast for fiscal 2019, sending shares up 1 percent.

Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

  • Earnings per share: 92 cents vs. 91 cents expected
  • Revenue: $1.97 billion vs. $1.98 billion expected

Darden also said same-store sales grew 2.1 percent, beating analysts’ estimates of 2.0 percent. Strong sales at Olive Garden and Capital Grille restaurants that have been open at least a year boosted those numbers. Darden’s upscale steakhouse chain reported the highest same-store sales growth of 3.7 percent, beating even Olive Garden.

Darden reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $115.6 million, or 92 cents per share, up from $84.7 million, or 67 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Darden earned $135.3 million, or 92 cents per share, from continuing operations, topping the 91 cents per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Net sales rose 4.9 percent to $1.97 billion, missing expectations of $1.98 billion.

The restaurant company raised its full-year forecast, saying it now expects to earn between $5.60 and $5.70 per share for the fiscal year and to see same-store sales growth of 2.5 percent. Those numbers largely match up with analysts’ estimates of same-store sales growth of 2.5 percent and earnings of $5.65 per share.

Last quarter, Darden said it expected same-store sales to increase within a range of 2.0 percent to 2.5 percent. It also said it expected to earn between $5.52 and $5.65 per share for the year.

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