Darden Restaurants Q1 Results Beat Estimates, Lifts FY16 EPS View

(RTTNews) - Full service restaurants operator Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) Tuesday announced a sharp fall in first quarter net earnings to $86.4 million from $503.2 million last year. Earnings per share declined to $0.67 from $3.81 in the previous year. Earnings from continuing operations were $0.63 per share, while in the prior year the company has recorded a loss of $0.14 per share. In the prior year, the company has recorded earnings from discontinued operations of $522.5 million $3.95 per share compared to $5.4 million or $0.04 per share in the current year.

On an adjusted basis, net earnings from continuing operations increased 112.5 percent to $0.68 per share from $0.32 per share last year.

On average 24 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.58 per share. Analysts estimates usually exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter increased 5.7 percent to $1.687 billion from $1.595 billion a year ago. Same restaurant sales increased 3.4 percent for the quarter. Wall Street was looking for $1.67 billion.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2016, the company raised its adjusted earnings per share from continuing operation to range of $3.15 to 3.30 per share, up from the prior projection of $3.05 to $3.20 per share. The Street expects $3.13 per share on revenue of $7.22 billion.