Darden Restaurants (DRI)
Consumer Discretionary · $24.4B market cap · SEC CIK 0000940944
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Mar 17, 2027, with analysts expecting $3.29 in earnings per share.
The case for DRI
- Earns 56% back on shareholder equity.
- Revenue growing 9.4% year over year.
- Pays a 3.4% dividend while you wait.
- Has compounded revenue at 12.9% a year over five years.
- Moves less than the market (beta 0.66).
The case against
- Current liabilities exceed current assets (ratio 0.31).
- Long-term debt of $2.1B against $224M of cash.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Consumer Discretionary companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 52 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 63 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 52 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 62 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 88 |
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 48 Consumer Discretionary companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 20.2× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | 10.48× |
| Price / sales | 1.8× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +9.4% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | +17.2% |
| Gross margin | 22% |
| Operating margin | 12% |
| Net margin | 9% |
| Return on equity | 56% |
| Debt / equity | 1.84× |
| Current ratio | 0.31 |
| Dividend yield | 3.36% |
| Beta | 0.66 |
| 52-week range | $169.00 – $229.76 |
| Position in that range | 73% of the way up |
| 3-month return | -1.0% |
| 1-year return | +14.4% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from Darden Restaurants's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $13.2B | $12.1B | $11.4B | $10.5B | $9.6B |
| Gross profit | $2.7B | $2.5B | $2.3B | $2.0B | $1.9B |
| Operating income | $1.6B | $1.4B | $1.3B | $1.2B | $1.2B |
| Net income | $1.2B | $1.0B | $1.0B | $982M | $953M |
| Operating cash flow | $1.9B | $1.7B | $1.6B | $1.6B | $1.3B |
| Capital expenditure | $734M | $645M | $601M | $565M | $377M |
| Total assets | $12.9B | $12.9B | $11.3B | $10.0B | $10.4B |
| Total liabilities | $10.9B | $10.4B | $9.3B | $8.0B | $7.9B |
| Shareholder equity | $2.1B | $2.1B | $2.0B | $2.0B | $2.5B |
| Cash | $224M | $217M | $196M | $241M | $746M |
| Long-term debt | $2.1B | $2.1B | $1.4B | $886M | $929M |
| Free cash flow | $1.1B | $1.1B | $1.0B | $988M | $888M |
| Gross margin | 20.3% | 20.5% | 20.1% | 19.0% | 19.7% |
| Operating margin | 12.0% | 11.3% | 11.5% | 11.5% | 12.1% |
| Net margin | 9.1% | 8.7% | 9.0% | 9.4% | 9.9% |
| Diluted shares | 116M | 118M | 121M | 123M | 129M |
Share count is down 9.8% over 4 years. Buybacks have been shrinking the pie.
What Darden Restaurants says it does
Introduction Darden Restaurants, Inc. ("Darden," the "Company," "we," "us," or "our") is a full-service restaurant company, and as of May 31, 2026, we owned and operated 2,202 restaurants through subsidiaries in the United States under the Olive Garden ® , LongHorn Steakhouse ® , Yard House ® , Ruth’s Chris Steak House ® ("Ruth’s Chris"), Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen ® , The Capital Grille ® , Chuy’s ® , Seasons 52 ® , Eddie V’s Prime Seafood ® ("Eddie V’s"), Bahama Breeze ® , and The Capital Burger ® trademarks. As of May 31, 2026, we also had 167 restaurants operated by independent third parties pursuant to area development and franchise agreements, four restaurants operating under contractual agreements, and one restaurant that we jointly own with a third party and operate independently. The following table details the number of company-owned and operated restaurants, as well as…
Risk factors DRI lists in its 10-K
- Risks Relating to Inflation and Macroeconomic Disruption
- The inability to hire, train, reward, and retain restaurant team members and determine and maintain adequate staffing may impact our ability to achieve our operating, growth, and financial objectives
- We may be subject to increased labor and insurance costs
- Health concerns arising from food-related pandemics, outbreaks of flu, viruses, or other diseases may have an adverse effect on our business
- A failure to maintain food safety throughout the supply chain and food-borne illness concerns may have an adverse effect on our business
- Risks Relating to Information Technology, Cybersecurity and Privacy
- Risks Related to the Restaurant Industry
- We face intense competition, and if we have an insufficient strategy or focus on competition and the consumer landscape, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected
- We are subject to changes in consumer preferences that may adversely affect demand for food at our restaurants
- Our inability or failure to recognize, respond to, and effectively manage the accelerated impact of social media could have a material adverse impact on our business
- "Our inability or failure to recognize, respond to, and effectively manage the accelerated impact of social media could have a material adverse impact on our business."
- Climate change, adverse weather conditions, and natural disasters could adversely affect our sales or results of operations
- Risks Relating to Our Business Model and Strategy
- We may lose sales or incur increased costs if our restaurants experience shortages, delays, or interruptions in the delivery of food and other products from our third party vendors and suppliers