Darden’s fourth-quarter results exceeded Wall Street expectations, with revenue of $3.10 billion and adjusted EPS of $2.08. Same-store sales rose by 4.3% year-on-year, driven by successful initiatives like Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl. Commodity inflation, especially in beef, posed challenges, but cost discipline helped maintain operating margins at 10.3%. Analyst questions during the earnings call focused on topics like menu changes, sales impact, and marketing trends. Looking ahead, analysts will monitor Olive Garden’s new menu rollout, first-party delivery adoption, and commodity inflation’s impact on margins. Darden’s stock price currently stands at $187.

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Read more at Barchart: The Top 5 Analyst Questions From Darden’s Q4 Earnings Call