Shares of Darden Restaurants Inc. DRI gained 1.0% in premarket trading Thursday, after the parent of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse restaurant chains beat fiscal third-quarter profit, total sales and same-store sales expectations, amid a strong traffic performance. Net income for the quarter to Feb. 26 rose to $286.6 million, or $2.34 a share, from $247.0 million, or $1.93 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $2.25. Sales grew 13.8% to $2.79 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $2.73 billion. Same-store sales jumped 11.7%, beating the FactSet consensus of 9.1% growth, as Olive Garden sales increased 12.3% to beat expectations of 9.5% and LongHorn Steakhouse sales rose 10.8%. For fiscal 2023, the company expects EPS of $7.85 to $8.00, total sales of $10.45 billion to $10.5 billion and same-store sales growth of 6.5% to 7.0%, compared with the FactSet consensus for EPS of $7.89, sales of $10.42 billion and same-store sales growth of 5.9%. The stock has rallied 8.8% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has tacked on 2.4%.
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