Darden Restaurants' sales rise 6%, fueled by Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse

Core Insights - Darden Restaurants reported quarterly earnings and revenue that met analysts' expectations, with better-than-expected same-store sales growth at Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse [1] Financial Performance - Earnings per share were reported at $2.03 adjusted, slightly above the expected $2.02 [2] - Revenue for the quarter was $2.89 billion, slightly below the expected $2.9 billion [2] - Fiscal second-quarter net income was $215.1 million, or $1.82 per share, an increase from $212.1 million, or $1.76 per share, a year earlier [2] Same-Store Sales Growth - Darden's same-store sales rose 2.4%, surpassing StreetAccount estimates of 1.5% [5] - LongHorn Steakhouse reported same-store sales growth of 7.5%, exceeding the expected 4.1% [5] - Olive Garden, which accounts for over 40% of Darden's quarterly revenue, saw same-store sales growth of 2%, above the anticipated 1.4% [6] - The fine-dining segment, including The Capital Grille and Ruth's Chris Steak House, experienced a same-store sales decline of 5.8%, worse than the expected 2.8% decrease [7] - The remaining segment, including Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen and Yard House, reported same-store sales growth of 0.7%, in line with estimates [7] Expansion and Acquisitions - Darden added 39 net new locations during the quarter, along with 103 Chuy's restaurants [8] - The company completed its $605 million acquisition of the Tex-Mex chain Chuy's in October [8]