Street View: Darden Restaurants' Q4 forecast shows resilience to inflation risk

Olive Garden-parent Darden Restaurants DRI.N projected fourth-quarter comparable sales above expectations on Thursday despite missing third-quarter estimates, lifting shares to a record high

At least ten brokerages raise PT

RELATIVELY POSITIVE DESPITE Q3 MISS

Morgan Stanley ("overweight" PT: $217) views results as relatively positive regarding DRI's drivers and perhaps also a sign of consumer resiliency in a more experiential, lower tariff-risk category

BOFA Global Research ("buy" PT: $238) says underlying momentum is apparent for 4Q and Uber Direct partnership will serve as a sustainable comp driver

KeyBanc Capital Markets ("overweight", PT: $220) says that while it doesn't know whether tariffs will ultimately impact broader discretionary spend as producers pass on costs, Darden's comments suggest consumers aren't thinking about that just yet

Stifel ("buy", PT: $215) says "to be uber direct, current trends were better than we feared" and does not believe that the performance of a few top brands is indicative of the entire casual dining segment, believing the category demand is soft

TD Cowen ("hold", PT: $190) says it is looking for further evidence that co's efforts to improve Olive Garden's trends will result in market share gains and does not share co's confidence on full service restaurants' rebound