Darden Restaurants

Darden's shares have outperformed this year as its portfolio of Olive Garden and LongHorn provides diversification that can offset weakness at a single chain. Analysts say multi-brand operators like Darden and Brinker have been more resilient than single-chain peers such as McDonald's and Chipotle, and upcoming quarterly results will test whether that trend continues. Wall Street highlights LongHorn's stronger comps versus Olive Garden as an example of portfolio cushioning, while noting single-brand focus can also outperform when execution is strong. » More on cnbc.com

At the annual general meeting on September 23, 2026, Darden Restaurants approved a dividend of $6.00 per share for 2026, an increase of 7.14% versus the prior year. The total distribution amounts to $693.00 million, up 5.24% year on year. The dividend yield for 2026 is 2.94%; FactSet analysts expect an increase to $6.54 per share and a yield of 3.06% for 2027. Darden Restaurants has posted a price gain of 51.26% over three years and a total return (price + dividend) of 57.80%. » More on finanzen.net

Darden Restaurants reported fiscal Q1 results that narrowly missed expectations, with EPS of $2.05 (vs. $2.06 expected) and revenue of $3.20 billion (vs. $3.21 billion expected), and shares fell about 5% premarket. Net income declined to $233.4 million from $257.8 million a year earlier while net sales rose 5.1% and overall same-store sales increased 3.1%. Olive Garden's same-store sales growth slowed to 1.1%, while LongHorn Steakhouse led the portfolio with 6.2% same-store sales growth. Darden reiterated its fiscal 2027 guidance, projecting total sales of $13.60–$13.75 billion and EPS of $11.10–$11.35 from continuing operations. » More on cnbc.com