Stock Futures Gain Ahead of Inflation Data; Dow, S&P 500 Look to Snap 4-Session Skids

Darden Restaurants Stock Rises on Strong Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse Same-Restaurant Sales, Boosted Outlook

25 minutes ago

Darden Restaurants CEO Rick Cardenas said the company’s strong fiscal 2026 second-quarter results were driven by “being brilliant with the basics.”

The Orlando-based company’s shares surged 4% in premarket trading Thursday after it reported better-than-expected same-restaurant sales across its brands and lifted its full-year outlook.

Darden Restaurants (DRI) posted consolidated sales of $3.10 billion and same-restaurant sales of 4.3%. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $3.07 billion and 2.87%, respectively. Adjusted earnings of $2.08 per share came up a penny short of consensus estimates.

Darden registered same-restaurant sales growth of 5.9% at LongHorn Steakhouse, 4.7% at Olive Garden, and 0.8% at its Fine Dining segment, which includes Ruth’s Chris Steak House. All comfortably exceeded analysts’ expectations.

The company raised its fiscal 2026 forecasts for sales growth to a range of 8.5% to 9.3% from 7.5% to 8.5%, and same-restaurant sales growth to 3.5% to 4.3% from 2.5% to 3.5%.

“The second quarter exceeded our top-line expectations as every segment delivered positive same-restaurant sales,” Cardenas said. “Our restaurant teams did a great job of being brilliant with the basics, driving record, or near-record, guest satisfaction scores across all our brands. Despite facing significant commodity headwinds, we leveraged our four competitive advantages to provide strong value for our guests and we made appropriate investments in the business to ensure long-term success.”

Darden Restaurants shares entered Thursday up less than 2% this year.

Stock Futures Rise Ahead of Inflation Data

1 hr 23 min ago

Futures contracts associated with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%.

S&P 500 futures advanced 0.5%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.8%.