Benzinga | Mar 24, 2021 10:06AM EDT

Darden Restaurants Earnings Outlook



Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) releases its next round of earnings this Thursday, March 25. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's Q3 earnings report.

Net Income, Earnings, And Earnings Per Share

Earnings and especially earnings per share (EPS) are useful measures of a company's profitability. Total earnings, which is also referred to as net income, equals total revenue minus total expenses. EPS equals to net income divided by the number of shares outstanding.

Earnings And Revenue

Darden Restaurants earnings will be near $0.71 per share on sales of $1.62 billion, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, Darden Restaurants reported EPS of $1.9 on revenue of $2.35 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

Analysts who cover this company will publish forward-looking estimates of its revenue and EPS each quarter. Averaging together every EPS and revenue prediction that each analyst makes about a company in a quarter yields the "consensus estimates." A company posting earnings or revenue above or below the consensus estimate is known as an "earnings surprise" and may move the stock by a considerable margin.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Thursday, earnings would be down 62.63%. Sales would be down 30.98% on a year-over-year basis. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020 Q3 2020EPS Estimate 0.71 0.05 -1.71 1.88EPS Actual 0.74 0.56 -1.24 1.90Revenue Estimate 1.68 B 1.56 B 1.24 B 2.32 BRevenue Actual 1.66 B 1.53 B 1.27 B 2.35 B

Stock Performance

Shares of Darden Restaurants were trading at $136.65 as of March 23. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 129.33%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Darden Restaurants is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.