RTTNews | Mar 25, 2021 10:20AM EDT

10:19 Thursday, March 25, 2021 (RTTNews.com) - Shares of Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) are currently trading at $138.59, up $4.66 or 3.48%, with trading volume rising over 1.16 million versus an average volume of 1.48 million shares. The stock has been trading between $43.11 and $147.93 in the past one year.

Darden Restaurants, on Thursday, said it expects Q4 total sales to be about $2.1 billion; EBITDA between $345 million and $360 million; and net earnings per share from continuing operations in the range of $1.60 - $1.70. Wall Street analysts estimate earnings of $1.24 per share and revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter.

The company reported Q3 net earnings from continuing operations of $0.98 per share compared to $1.90 per share last year. On average, 25 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.69, for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Third quarter total sales were $1.73 billion, a decrease of 26.1% driven by negative blended same-restaurant sales of 26.7%, partially offset by the addition of 10 net new restaurants. Analysts expected revenue of $1.63 billion, for the quarter.

Darden's Board authorized a new share repurchase program under which the company may repurchase up to $500 million of its outstanding common stock. The Board also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.88 per share on outstanding common stock. The dividend is payable on May 3, 2021 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 9, 2021.

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