Darden Restaurants (DRI) Q2 Earnings Lag Estimates

Core Insights - Darden Restaurants reported quarterly earnings of $2.08 per share, slightly missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.09 per share, but showing an increase from $2.03 per share a year ago, resulting in an earnings surprise of -0.48% [1] - The company posted revenues of $3.1 billion for the quarter ended November 2025, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.60% and up from $2.89 billion year-over-year, having surpassed consensus revenue estimates three times in the last four quarters [2] Earnings Performance - Over the last four quarters, Darden Restaurants has only surpassed consensus EPS estimates once, indicating a mixed performance in earnings expectations [2] - The stock has added approximately 1.5% since the beginning of the year, underperforming compared to the S&P 500's gain of 14.3% [3] Future Outlook - The company's earnings outlook will be crucial for investors, as it includes current consensus earnings expectations for upcoming quarters and any recent changes to these expectations [4] - The current consensus EPS estimate for the next quarter is $2.99 on revenues of $3.3 billion, and for the current fiscal year, it is $10.59 on revenues of $13.1 billion [7] Industry Context - The Retail - Restaurants industry, to which Darden Restaurants belongs, is currently ranked in the bottom 27% of over 250 Zacks industries, suggesting potential challenges ahead [8] - Historical data indicates that the top 50% of Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by more than a factor of 2 to 1, highlighting the importance of industry performance on individual stock outcomes [8]