Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) stock is muted after Jefferies downgraded the Olive Garden parent to "underperform" from "hold" and slashed its price target by $30 to $124. The analyst said the company could lose market share in a "more promotional" environment, and cited potential challenges for DRI's near-term fundamentals. Darden stock has had a rough go of it on lately. While last seen marginally higher, the shares are currently mired in an 11-day losing streak. Now trading at its lowest level since ...

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Smart investors will watch restaurant stocks since the business is estimated to generate over $1 trillion in 2024. The industry is expected to gain 200,000 jobs this year, reaching 15.7 million. The industry could add an average of 150,000 jobs per subsequent year, reaching 16.9 million by 2032. Restaurants are the second most popular private sector employment in the U.S. Also, technology-based eating habits are spreading swiftly. According to Madmobile, 64% of customers prefer to place digital orders, demo ...

Let's discuss the factors highlighting why investors should retain the stock for the time being. During fiscal year 2024, Darden launched 53 new restaurants across 24 states, including eight reopenings, and successfully integrated Ruth's Chris Steak House into its operations. The company maintained its focus on reinforcing four competitive advantages and upholding operational excellence across its restaurant network, enabling it to navigate challenges such as heightened discounting and marketing pressures e ...

Cardenas said Darden, which owns popular franchises including Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse, has not yet benefited from the trend, but noted competitors like Brinker International, which owns Chili's, and Applebee's parent Dine Brands have begun to market towards fast food customers with cheap deals. On Darden's quarterly earnings call on Thursday, Cardenas said industry data shows "a little bit of a shift" from fast food joints to sit-down competitors. His comments come after a recent survey conduct ...

Olive Garden customers can expect menu prices to increase in the near future after the popular Italian restaurant chain has kept price hikes well below inflation in recent years, parent company Darden Restaurants said this week. Darden CFO Raj Vennam told analysts on the company's earnings call Thursday that Olive Garden menu prices for this year are "to be more in line with inflation" in the 2.5% to 3% range, spread over the next four quarters. Vennam said Olive Garden has kept pricing "very modest" over t ...

Loading... The results came amid an exciting earnings season. Here are some key analyst takeaways. Analyst Sara Senatore maintained a Buy rating, while raising the price target from $180 to $185. "We subscribe to Darden's view that slower input cost growth – commodities and labor – is a natural counterweight to slower demand growth and continue to believe that DRI can meet or exceed its long term growth algorithm, albeit with the balance of growth shifted to margin expansion," the analyst further wrote. Dar ...

Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Olive Garden's parent company says the Italian chain is bucking industry traffic trends and luring in diners by not raising prices as much as its competitors. Despite this, Olive Garden's same-restaurant sales in the quarter fell by 1.5% year-over-year, Vennam said. He attributed the fall to its "decision to minimize pricing." Advertisement Related stories In the year to late May, Olive Garden raised prices by about ...

Loading... Loading... Darden Restaurants, Inc. DRI reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings results and increased its quarterly dividend. Sales grew 6.8% Y/Y to $2.957 billion, missing the analyst consensus estimate of $2.975 billion. Consolidated same-restaurant sales for the quarter remained flat. Adjusted EPS of $2.65 topped the consensus of $2.62, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Darden's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.40 per share, a 6.9% Q/Q, payable on Au ...