Overview

• US casual dining operator's fiscal Q4 sales rose 13.7% yr/yr, slightly missing analyst expectations

• Adjusted EPS beat analyst expectations, helped by additional operational week

• Company authorized new $1.5 bln share buyback and raised quarterly dividend

Outlook

• Darden sees fiscal 2027 sales of $13.60 bln to $13.75 bln

• Company expects same-restaurant sales growth of 2.5% to 3.5% in fiscal 2027

• Darden forecasts fiscal 2027 diluted net EPS from continuing operations of $11.10 to $11.35

Result Drivers

• EXTRA WEEK OF OPERATIONS - Additional week contributed 7.6% to Q4 sales and $0.25 to reported and adjusted EPS

• SAME-RESTAURANT SALES GROWTH - Blended same-restaurant sales rose 4.6% in Q4, with LongHorn Steakhouse up 9.5%

• NEW RESTAURANT OPENINGS - Sales from 43 net new restaurants contributed to Q4 growth

Company press release: ID:nPn4rZZDta

Key Details

*Applies to a deviation of less than 1%; not applicable for per-share numbers.

Analyst Coverage

• The current average analyst rating on the shares is "buy" and the breakdown of recommendations is 18 "strong buy" or "buy", 11 "hold" and 1 "sell" or "strong sell"

• The average consensus recommendation for the restaurants & bars peer group is "buy"

• Wall Street's median 12-month price target for Darden Restaurants Inc is $229.00, about 7.3% above its June 24 closing price of $213.45

• The stock recently traded at 19 times the next 12-month earnings vs. a P/E of 19 three months ago

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