Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) shares surged almost 2.5% in pre-market as its fourth quarter numbers beat expectations and it gave an upbeat assessment on outlook.
The parent of the Olive Garden chain earned $1.18 per share for the three months on revenue of $1.94bn.
Analysts had expected earnings per share (EPS) of $1.15 on revenue of $1.87bn
Same store sales rise 3.3% in the fourth quarter, which was well above Wall Street's estimate of 2.4%, while its Olive Garden's same-store sales grew 4.4% - higher than estimates of 2.9%.
As a testament to the strong showing, the group has also raised its quarterly dividend by 12.5% to 63 cents a share from 56 cents.
Heading into 2018, Darden expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.38 to $4.50 per share.
Shares gained 2.46% to $2.22 each.