Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, what do you think about the prospects for Darden Restaurants? It looks like it still has room to rise. Thank you.

Article Excerpt

A: Darden Restaurants Inc., $208.08, symbol DRI on New York (Shares outstanding: 117.1 million; Market cap: $24.3 billion; www.darden.com), is a full-service restaurant company. Darden got its start in 1995, when General Mills Inc. spun the company off to its shareholders. As of February 23, 2025, Darden owned 2,165 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada and operated under 11 banners. Those banners are the Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Chuy’s, Yard House, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s, and The Capital Burger. All the company’s brands are full-service restaurants. The latest addition to the group is Chuy, which it acquired in October 2024. Darden paid $605 million for this American Tex-Mex restaurant chain. Currently, the company operates through four segments: Olive Garden; LongHorn Steakhouse; Fine Dining; and Other Business. Olive Garden is an internally developed brand and the largest full-service Italian restaurant chain in the U.S. Its 927 locations are company owned. LongHorn Steakhouse is a restaurant…