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Last Update: 20-Dec-12 07:41 ET
Darden Restaurants shares little changed following slight miss on earnings
Darden Restaurants (DRI $46.82 +0.00) reported second quarter earnings of $0.26 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.27 (co guided for EPS of $0.25-0.26 vs. $0.46 est on Dec 4), including approximately $0.05 charge from Yard House acquisition; revenues rose 7.0% year/year to $1.96 bln vs the $1.95 bln consensus. The increase reflects a same-restaurant sales increase of 0.7% for the company's Specialty Restaurant Group, incremental sales from the 11 Eddie V's restaurants acquired on November 14, 2011, the acquisition of 40 Yard House restaurants on August 29, 2012 and the addition and operation of another 99 net new restaurants compared to the second quarter last year, offset by a combined same-restaurant sales decline of 2.7% for Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse (inline with Dec guidance). In Q2, U.S. same-restaurant sales decreased -0.8%, -2.7% and -3.2% for LongHorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster and Olive Garden, respectively. The company reaffirmed guidance for fiscal year 2013 with EPS of $3.29-3.49, including $0.08-0.10 in Yard House costs, versus the $3.41 consensus and revenues of +7.5-8.5% to $8.60-8.68 billion versus the $8.6 billion consensus based upon combined U.S. same-restaurant sales of about -1.0% to flat for Red Lobster, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, incremental sales starting in fiscal Sept from the acquisition of Yard House and the opening of approximately 100 net new restaurants in fiscal 2013, not including the initial 40 Yard House restaurants operating at the close of the acquisition.
