Darden Restaurants, Inc. · DRI · FY2027 Q1 · Calendar Q3 2026

Darden starts FY2027 with 3.2% same-restaurant sales growth

Darden's current evidence supports a measured, resilient-demand thesis: comparable sales grew across the portfolio and management maintained FY2027 EPS guidance. The evidence is mixed rather than uniformly strong, with Olive Garden at 1% growth and ongoing exposure to pricing, commodity, fuel, and execution risks.

Reported Before market openNYSEConsumer Cyclical $24.49B market cap
80quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS — Consensus $2.05
EPS surprise — Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue — Consensus $3.21B
Revenue surprise — Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move -2.5% Event window
SPY move -0.1% Same window
Abnormal move -2.5% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.0× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift 0.0% Up to 20 sessions
DRISPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

The quarter added a 3.2% comparable-sales result, reaffirmed FY2027 EPS guidance, and identified Olive Garden lunch initiatives plus continued Yard House and Chuy's expansion as near-term priorities. The World Cup affected brand-level comparisons, adding about 180 basis points to Yard House same-restaurant sales and subtracting about 80 basis points from the rest of the portfolio.

Guidance delta

Maintained: management reaffirmed FY2027 EPS guidance of $11.10-$11.35.

Key takeaways

  • First-quarter same-restaurant sales grew 3.2% on a comparable-calendar basis, with Olive Garden at 1%, LongHorn Steakhouse at 6.8%, and Yard House at 10%.
  • Management linked performance to menu innovation, promotions, and social-media engagement, including the Never-Ending Pasta Bowl.
  • Olive Garden lunch marketing and further Yard House and Chuy's unit growth are the main operating initiatives highlighted for the next phase.

Management priorities

  • Revive Olive Garden lunch marketing and test new lunch platforms.
  • Continue the smaller Yard House prototype rollout and planned openings.
  • Invest in menu innovation, brand consistency, and Chuy's expansion.

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Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
DRI EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 4 future estimate-only quarters. Q3 '24 estimate $2.62 Q3 '24 actual $2.62, match Q4 '24 estimate $2.61 Q4 '24 actual $2.65, beat Q1 '25 estimate $1.83 Q1 '25 actual $1.75, miss Q4 '25 estimate $2.97 Q4 '25 actual $2.98, match Q1 '26 estimate $2.00 Q1 '26 actual $1.97, miss Q2 '26 estimate $2.10 Q2 '26 actual $2.08, miss Q3 '26 estimate $2.94 Q3 '26 actual $2.95, match Q4 '26 estimate $3.63 Q4 '26 actual $3.66, beat Q1 '27 estimate $2.05 Q2 '27 estimate $2.30 Q3 '27 estimate $3.26 Q4 '27 estimate $3.68
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusBuy59 ratings
Bullish3864.4%
Neutral2033.9%
Bearish11.7%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$207.75Current
$95Low
$197.52Average
$265High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Sep 24, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Freedom Capital Markets Buy BuyMaintainSep 21, 2026
Oppenheimer Outperform OutperformMaintainSep 15, 2026
Morgan Stanley Overweight OverweightMaintainSep 14, 2026
Stephens & Co. Equal Weight Equal WeightMaintainSep 11, 2026
Citigroup Buy BuyMaintainSep 11, 2026
Show 54 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $207.74. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
Seaport GlobalEric Gonzalez$240$209.02 +15.5%Sep 16, 2026
OppenheimerAnalyst unavailable$245$218.61 +17.9%Sep 15, 2026
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$255$209.82 +22.7%Sep 14, 2026
StephensAnalyst unavailable$220$207.65 +5.9%Sep 11, 2026
Deutsche BankAnalyst unavailable$245$215.36 +17.9%Sep 1, 2026
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Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Darden Restaurants, Inc., through its various subsidiaries, focuses on the ownership and operation of full-service dining establishments across both the United States and Canada. As of May 29, 2022, the company's extensive portfolio comprised 1,867 directly managed restaurants. These included a significant presence from its flagship brands: 884 Olive Garden outlets, 546 LongHorn Steakhouse locations, 172 Cheddar's Scratch Kitchens, 85 Yard House venues, 62 Capital Grille branches, 45 Seasons 52 restaurants, 42 Bahama Breeze sites, 28 Eddie V's Prime Seafood establishments, and 3 Capital Burger eateries. In addition to its owned operations, Darden also oversees 60 franchised restaurants, specifically 35 Olive Garden units, 18 LongHorn Steakhouse units, 4 Cheddar's Scratch Kitchens, 2 Capital Grille locations, and 1 Bahama Breeze restaurant. The company, which originated in 1968, is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

Historical context

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Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-09-24T19:11:05.960657+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-09-24T01:23:14.997160+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-09-24T19:20:55.431247+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-09-24T19:20:55.428568+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-09-24. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.