Darden Restaurants Guides Q2 EPS Above View; Reinstates Dividend - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - While reporting financial results for the first quarter on Thursday, Darden Restaurants, Inc., (DRI) provided said it is providing financial outlook for the second quarter of fiscal 2021. For the second quarter, the company expects net earnings from continuing operations in a range of $0.65 to $0.75 per share on total sales of approximately 82% of prior year sales.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.35 per share on a sales decline to 13.7 percent to $1.78 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Darden's Board of Directors also announced that it has reinstated a quarterly dividend and declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.30 per share on the Company's outstanding common stock. The dividend is payable on November 2, 2020 to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 9, 2020.

Additionally, the Company still expects to open 35 to 40 net new restaurants and have total capital spending of $250 million to $300 million for the full year.