Darden Restaurants (DRI) Earnings: Q1 Fiscal 2027 Results and Next Report Date

The quarter ended August 30, 2026 and Darden Restaurants published the results on September 24, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q1 fiscal 2026, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Darden Restaurants reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and adjusted, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• EPS and net income on this page are from continuing operations, the figures Darden leads with. Including discontinued operations, diluted net EPS was $2.04, against $2.19 a year earlier.
• Fiscal 2026 had 53 weeks and fiscal 2027 has 52, so the quarters are offset by one week. Darden reports same-restaurant sales on both a fiscal calendar and a comparable calendar basis for that reason.
• Q4 fiscal 2026 in the history table had 14 weeks, against 13 in the other quarters.

Source: Darden Restaurants Q1 fiscal 2027 results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1), September 24, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended August 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Darden Restaurants splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q1 fiscal 2027 against Q1 fiscal 2026. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Darden Restaurants's Olive Garden revenue was $1.3 billion in Q1 fiscal 2027, up 2% from $1.3 billion in Q1 fiscal 2026, 42% of total revenue.
• Darden Restaurants's LongHorn Steakhouse revenue was $861 million in Q1 fiscal 2027, up 11% from $776 million in Q1 fiscal 2026, 27% of total revenue.
• Darden Restaurants's Fine Dining revenue was $304 million in Q1 fiscal 2027, up 6% from $287 million in Q1 fiscal 2026, 10% of total revenue.
• Darden Restaurants's Other Business revenue was $705 million in Q1 fiscal 2027, up 4% from $681 million in Q1 fiscal 2026, 22% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q1 fiscal 2027 release, Darden Restaurants said:

“The Company reaffirmed all aspects of its full year financial outlook for fiscal 2027, culminating in diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations of $11.10 to $11.35.”

Source: Darden Q1 fiscal 2027 release, Sep 24, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Sep 24, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the DRI forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

Sales and diluted EPS from continuing operations, each as first reported in that quarter's release. Q4 fiscal 2026 included a 14th week, which Darden said added 7.6% to that quarter's sales.

Darden Restaurants's next report is scheduled for December 18, 2026. This page will show Q1 fiscal 2027 until those results are out and have been checked against the release.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q1 fiscal 2027 (this page), reported Sep 24, 2026

Darden Restaurants reported total sales of $3,200.3 million in Q1 fiscal 2027, up 5.1%. Olive Garden is the largest of its four segments at $1,329.8 million, followed by LongHorn Steakhouse at $860.9 million, Other Business at $705.4 million and Fine Dining at $304.2 million. (Darden Q1 fiscal 2027 release, Sep 24, 2026)

Darden Restaurants' Fine Dining segment is Ruth's Chris, The Capital Grille and Eddie V's. Other Business is Yard House, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Chuy's, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze and The Capital Burger, plus royalties and fees from franchised and contractually managed restaurants. Sales come principally from food and beverage, and Darden says it does not rely on any major customers. (Darden Form 10-K, fiscal 2026, Jul 24, 2026)

Blended same-restaurant sales rose 3.1% on a fiscal calendar basis and 3.2% on a comparable calendar basis. LongHorn Steakhouse led at 6.2% (6.8% comparable calendar), while Olive Garden rose 1.1%. Darden's 10-Q says Olive Garden's U.S. increase came from a 3.4 percent rise in average check, offset by a 2.2 percent fall in same-restaurant guest counts. At LongHorn, average check rose 4.5 percent and guest counts rose 1.6 percent. (Darden Q1 fiscal 2027 release, Sep 24, 2026; Darden Form 10-Q, Q1 fiscal 2027, Oct 2, 2026)

Darden Restaurants also grew through new openings. It operated 2,218 company-owned restaurants at August 30, 2026, against 2,165 a year earlier, including 953 Olive Gardens (from 933) and 624 LongHorn Steakhouses (from 595). Bahama Breeze fell to 10 restaurants from 28: Darden closed about half the brand's locations and plans to convert the rest to other Darden brands. (Darden Q1 fiscal 2027 release, Sep 24, 2026; Darden Form 10-Q, Q1 fiscal 2027, Oct 2, 2026)

Darden Restaurants' diluted EPS from continuing operations was $2.05, against $2.19 a year earlier. The year-ago figure included a $42.0 million pre-tax gain on the sale of Olive Garden Canada, worth $0.26 a share. Darden excludes that gain and Chuy's integration and restaurant-closure costs from its adjusted EPS, which was $1.97 a year ago. This quarter had no adjustments, so adjusted EPS of $2.05 equals the reported figure and is up 4.1%. (Darden Q1 fiscal 2027 release, Sep 24, 2026)

Operating income fell to $319.3 million from $339.2 million. Darden's 10-Q says food and beverage costs rose as a percent of sales because of a 1.0% impact from inflation and a 0.4% impact from brand mix, partly offset by a 1.1% impact from pricing leverage. (Darden Q1 fiscal 2027 release, Sep 24, 2026; Darden Form 10-Q, Q1 fiscal 2027, Oct 2, 2026)

Darden's diluted share count fell to 114.4 million from 117.6 million. It repurchased about 1.1 million shares for $222.3 million in the quarter and had $1.3 billion left under its $1.5 billion authorization. The effective tax rate on continuing operations was 12.9 percent, against 12.2 percent, which Darden tied mainly to mark-to-market impacts on hedges for its deferred compensation programs. (Darden Q1 fiscal 2027 release, Sep 24, 2026; Darden Form 10-Q, Q1 fiscal 2027, Oct 2, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Darden Restaurants reaffirmed its fiscal 2027 outlook in the release, culminating in diluted EPS from continuing operations of $11.10 to $11.35. Its 10-Q spells out the rest: sales from continuing operations of $13.60 billion to $13.75 billion, same-restaurant sales growth of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent, 75 to 80 new restaurant openings, an annual effective tax rate of about 13.5 percent and capital expenditures of about $875 million. (Darden Q1 fiscal 2027 release, Sep 24, 2026; Darden Form 10-Q, Q1 fiscal 2027, Oct 2, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Darden Restaurants, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Darden Restaurants's own release and filings put weight on for Q1 fiscal 2027, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning DRI is on is DRI a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the DRI forecast, and what the company does is on the Darden Restaurants (DRI) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Darden Restaurants published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.