Darden Restaurants Inc. shares rose 1.7% in premarket trades Friday after the company beat analyst estimates for second-quarter earnings and revenue. Darden said its fiscal second-quarter profit fell to $187.2 million, or $1.52 a share, from $193.2 million, or $1.48 a share in the year-ago quarter. Revenue at the company, which owns Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants, rose to $2.49 billion from $2.27 billion. Wall Street analysts expected Darden to earn $1.44 a share on revenue of $2.43 billion, according to consensus estimates from FactSet. Darden now expects 2023 earnings of $7.60 to $8 a share, compared to the analyst estimate of $7.73 a share. The company also projected 2023 sales of $10.3 billion to $10.45 billion against an analyst estimate of $10.33 billion.
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