Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) stock fell over 2.2% on 21st September 2018 (as of 12:43 PM GMT-4; Source: Google finance) after seeing a bullish momentum yesterday.
The company has appointed Timothy J. Wilmott to its Board of Directors, along with Darden’s seven incumbent directors. For FY 19, the company has raised its outlook. The company for FY 19 now expects Same-restaurant sales growth to be in the range of 2.0% to 2.5%, up from the prior guidance of 1.0% to 2.0%. Total sales growth is expected to be in the range of 5.0% to 5.5%, up from the prior guidance of 4.0% to 5.0%. Diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations is expected to be in the range of $5.52 – $5.65 in FY 19, up from the prior guidance of $5.40 – $5.56
DRI in the first quarter of FY 19 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $1.34, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $1.24. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 6.5 percent to $2.06 billion in the first quarter of FY 19, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $2.03 billion. On a company-wide basis, same-store sales rose by 3.3 percent for the quarter, with Olive Garden seeing a 5.3 percent spike and LongHorn Steakhouse jumping by 3.1 percent. Consensus Metrix forecasts a 2.1% same-store sales gain overall. That includes a 2.6% rise at Olive Garden and 2.4% for LongHorn Steakhouse.
Moreover, Olive Garden significantly outperformed the industry benchmarks across these metrics. The company continue to strengthen value and convenience, which was reflected in the two promotional offers during the quarter, Create Your Own Lasagna and Buy One Take One. Off-premise sales grew 13% and represented 13% of total sales for the quarter. Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen had total sales growth of 6.5%, driven by organic new restaurant growth and franchise restaurant acquisition growth of 10.5%, and offset by same restaurant sales decline of 4%.
During the first quarter 2019, the company has repurchased approximately 0.3 million shares of its common stock for a total cost of approximately $31 million. As of the end of the fiscal first quarter, the Company had approximately $480 million remaining under the current $500 million repurchase authorization. Further, DRI has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.75 per share on the Company’s outstanding common stock. The dividend is payable on November 1, 2018 to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 10, 2018.