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Olive Garden Italian Kitchen. Olive Garden is a division of Darden Restaurants.
Olive Garden in North Olmsted, Ohio

Olive Garden parent company Darden dips after serving up a Q1 earnings miss

The restaurant giant saw strong comps, but is facing higher costs and more price-conscious consumers.

Nia Warfield

Darden Restaurants shares sank more than 9% Thursday morning after the Olive Garden and LongHorn parent company’s first-quarter results came in lighter than expected.

Sales landed at $3.04 billion, just shy of the $3.07 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Adjusted diluted earnings per share came in at $1.97, narrowly below the Street’s $2.00 estimate. Same-store sales rose 4.7%, topping expectations thanks to Olive Garden and LongHorn, while its fine dining segment stayed relatively flat.

Looking ahead, Darden upped its full-year guidance, calling for adjusted EPS of $10.50 to $10.70, sales growth of 7.5% to 8.5%, and plans to open about 60 to 65 new restaurants. Wall Street is forecasting EPS of $10.69 and sales growth of 8.3%.

At Olive Garden, Darden is testing smaller-portioned, lower-priced meals to win over more cost-conscious diners. Already in 40% of locations, the offerings include seven entrees paired with unlimited breadsticks and soup or salad.

After today’s dip, Darden shares are now flat on the year.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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