Darden Restaurants

DRI · NYSE

$217.99+$1.75 (+0.81%)TodayMarket closed · Oct 20, 6:30 PM ET

Prev close $216.24

DRI analyst rating

BuyConsensus of 26 analysts over the last 12 months. 62% rate it a buy.

Strong buy0
Buy16
Hold10
Underperform0
Sell0

12-month price target · 27 analysts

Average $238.29 (+9.3% upside)

Low: $166.75
Now: $217.99
High: $289.80

Upgrades and downgrades

The latest rating actions, newest first

DRI analyst upgrades, downgrades and rating actions
Firm	Date	Action	Rating	Price target	Hit rate
Citigroup	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Buy	$248.00 → $247.00	57%
Guggenheim	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Buy	$235.00	60%
Mizuho	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Outperform	$235.00 → $245.00	55%
Freedom Capital Markets	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Buy	$255.00 → $260.00	71%
BMO Capital	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Market Perform	$225.00 → $220.00	51%
BTIG	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Buy	$235.00	53%
Stephens & Co.	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Equal-Weight	$220.00	24%
TD Cowen	Sep 24, 2026	Maintains	Hold	$215.00	33%
Freedom Capital Markets	Sep 21, 2026	Maintains	Buy	$255.00	71%
Seaport Global	Sep 16, 2026	Initiates	Buy	$240.00	54%

The case for and against

Updated Oct 14, 2026

Bull case

Darden Restaurants is viewed positively because its brand portfolio is still driving market-share gains, with comparable sales advancing 3.2% in F'1Q27 and 2.5% expected in 2QF27, while Olive Garden, LongHorn, and other concepts continue to offset isolated headwinds. The company’s disciplined pricing has stayed well below inflation and peers over the past seven years, supporting value perception, traffic, and sustained outperformance versus the Black Box benchmark, even as inflation moderates and beef costs begin to ease. Strong scale, improving traffic trends into September, and expectations for mid-single digit revenue growth and mid to high single digit EBITDA growth reinforce confidence in Darden’s durable earnings power and ongoing share gains.

Bear case

Darden Restaurants is pressured by persistent food and labor inflation, a tight labor market, and rising wage and labor availability challenges that could delay margin recovery and weaken profitability across its 2,202 company-owned stores and $13 billion-plus system sales base. It also faces meaningful exposure to discretionary consumer spending, so recession risk, low confidence, unemployment, or other macro disruptions could slow traffic and sales, especially as the industry’s recent growth has decelerated to roughly +1-2% in 2024/2025 from stronger post-Covid levels. Despite its strong banners, unit expansion adds execution risk through new-store inefficiencies, cannibalization, and integration challenges, while structural share losses and pressure from limited service remain clear downside threats.

Information on this page is provided for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Market data is delayed at least 15 minutes and is provided without warranty. Analyst ratings, price targets and company data come from third-party sources. Past performance does not guarantee future results.