Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) shares fell in Friday premarket trading despite the company reporting second-quarter earnings that beat consensus estimates.
The owner of Olive Garden reported a 9.7% increase in total sales to $2.73 billion, just shy of the $2.74 billion expected by Wall Street analysts.
Same-restaurant sales were up 2.8% and it also benefited from the addition of 78 company-owned Ruth's Chris Steak House (Ruth's Chris) restaurants and 45 other net new restaurants.
Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rose 21% to $1.84, above the $1.71 consensus estimate of analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research.
"We continued to profitably grow market share again this quarter as we outperformed industry same-restaurant sales and traffic," Darden president and CEO Rick Cardenas commented in a statement.
"We remain focused on managing our business for the long term and driving strong operating fundamentals in our restaurants.”
Darden has guided for full-year sales of roughly $11.5 billion, with same-restaurant sales growth of 2.5% to 3% and 50 to 55 new restaurant openings.
Adjusted diluted EPS is expected to be between $8.75 and $8.90, excluding approximately $0.37, after-tax, of Ruth's Chris transaction and integration-related costs.
Ahead of the opening bell, Darden shares were down 1% at $161.50.