Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) delivered strong Q2 results with revenues up by 9.4% year-over-year to $2.49 billion beating consensus estimates by $60 million. Comparable sales for the restaurant chain were up 7.3% during Q2.
Diluted net earnings were up 2.7% year-over-year to $1.52 per share exceeding Street expectations of $1.44.
Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas commented that DRI’s “disciplined approach in executing our strategy is what enables us to succeed, evidenced by the fact that, just last week, we surpassed $10 billion in sales on a trailing 52-week basis for the first time in Darden’s history.”
During fiscal Q2, DRI repurchased stock worth $100 million. In FY23, DRI expects total sales in the range of $10.3 to $10.45 billion while diluted net earnings are forecasted to be between $7.60 and $8.00 per share.
Analysts are cautiously optimistic about DRI stock with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 11 Buys and six Holds.During fiscal Q2, DRI repurchased stock worth $100 million.
