Darden Restaurants, Inc.

Sales Growth & Trends: Darden Restaurants reported a total sales of $3.2 billion in Q3 FY2025, representing a 6% increase year-over-year driven by same restaurant sales growth of 0.7%. The company achieved positive same restaurant sales across all four segments when adjusting for weather impacts, with Olive Garden and LongHorn performing particularly well in January and February, exceeding industry benchmarks significantly.

Earnings & Profitability: Adjusted diluted net earnings per share increased by 6.9% to $2.80, with an adjusted EBITDA of $559 million. The company maintained a healthy adjusted restaurant level EBITDA margin of 21.1%, up 50 basis points, indicating improved profitability despite recent challenges such as adverse weather conditions and holiday shifts affecting performance.

Future Outlook & Guidance: For Q4 FY2025, the company expects total sales between $3.23 billion and $3.26 billion, with same restaurant sales growth projected above 3%. Adjusted diluted net earnings per share is forecasted to be in the range of $2.88 to $2.95. Moreover, Darden anticipates a strong pipeline for FY2026, planning to open 60-65 new restaurants and projecting a 53rd week that could add $0.20 to EPS.