Darden Gears Up to Post Q2 Earnings: Here's What You Must Know

Darden Restaurants, Inc. DRI is scheduled to report second-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Dec. 18, 2025, before the opening bell.

In the last reported quarter, the company’s earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.5% but grew 12.6% year over year. Revenues marginally beat the consensus mark by 0.2% and increased 10.4% year over year.

DRI’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in one of the trailing four quarters and missed on three occasions, the average surprise being negative 0.5%.

Trend in the Estimate Revision of DRI

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal second-quarter earnings per share (EPS) is pegged at $2.10, indicating an improvement of 3.5% from $2.03 reported in the year-ago quarter.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Darden Restaurants, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Darden Restaurants, Inc. Quote

For revenues, the consensus mark is pegged at $3.08 billion. The projection implies a 6.7% rise from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Let us take a look at how things might have shaped up in the quarter to be reported.

Factors Likely to Shape Darden’s Quarterly Results

Darden’s fiscal second-quarter performance is expected to have benefited from menu innovation, targeted value initiatives and expanding digital and off-premise capabilities. Continued investments in prototype optimization and new restaurant formats, along with the scaling of first-party delivery through Uber Direct, are likely to have supported traffic and sales.

Strong brand momentum at Olive Garden has been supported by focused menu strategies, including marketing around the Create Your Own Pasta platform featuring the new Spicy 3-Meat Sauce and Bucatini pasta starting at $12.99, as well as the successful limited-time Calabrian Steak and Shrimp Bucatini, which helped drive incremental traffic. At LongHorn Steakhouse, sustained customer engagement has been underpinned by disciplined execution, consistent food quality, and a strategy rooted in simplicity, helping the brand maintain strong traffic and same-restaurant sales momentum despite cost pressures.

Strong contributions from core casual dining brands, including Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, are likely to have aided DRI’s top line in the fiscal second quarter. Our model predicts revenues from Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse to rise 3.3% and 5.7%, respectively, year over year to $1.34 billion and $750.7 million. We expect revenues from fine dining to fall 1.3% year over year to $302 million.

Increased focus on the Uber Direct partnership is likely to have aided Darden’s performance in the fiscal second quarter. Management highlighted this channel as a meaningful incremental opportunity, as delivery guests tend to generate higher check averages and typically do not overlap with Olive Garden’s in-restaurant dining occasions.

The aforementioned factors are likely to have aided the company’s bottom line. However, margin performance in the fiscal second quarter is likely to face inflationary headwinds, caused primarily by higher commodity costs, particularly beef. Management updated its outlook to total inflation of 3%-3.5%, with commodity inflation of 3%-4%, reflecting elevated beef costs and tariff-related pressures on seafood. Our model predicts fiscal second-quarter food and beverage, and labor costs to rise 5.6% and 7.1%, respectively, year over year to approximately $921.6 million and $992.9 million, respectively.

What Our Model Says About DRI Stock

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Darden this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. However, this is not the case here, as elaborated below.

Earnings ESP for DRI: Darden has an Earnings ESP of -1.58%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Darden’s Zacks Rank: The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3.

Stocks With the Favorable Combination

Here are some stocks from the Zacks Retail-Wholesale sector that investors may consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat.

Restaurant Brands International Inc. QSR currently has an Earnings ESP of +4.06% and a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Restaurant Brands’ earnings for the to-be-reported quarter are expected to increase 16.1%. It reported better-than-expected earnings in two of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining two occasions, the negative average surprise being 0.4%.

McDonald's MCD has an Earnings ESP of +0.30% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

Its earnings for the to-be-reported quarter are expected to increase 6%. McDonald’s reported better-than-expected earnings in three of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining one occasion, the negative average surprise being 0.4%.

Starbucks Corporation SBUX has an Earnings ESP of +2.72% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

Its earnings for the to-be-reported quarter are expected to decrease 13%. Starbucks reported better-than-expected earnings in one of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining three occasions, the negative average surprise being 10.1%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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