Top Restaurant Stocks To Invest In Right Now

Top Restaurant Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Darden Restaurants Inc (DRI)

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (Darden), incorporated in March 1995, is a company owned and full-service restaurant company. As of May 27, 2012, the Company operated through subsidiaries 1,994 restaurants in the United States and Canada. In the United States, it operated 1,961 restaurants in all 50 states, including 677 Red Lobster, 786 Olive Garden, 386 LongHorn Steakhouse, 46 The Capital Grille, 30 Bahama Breeze, 23 Seasons 52, eight Eddie V's Prime Seafood and three Wildfish Seafood Grille restaurants, and two test synergy restaurants, which house both a Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant in the same building. In Canada, the Company operated 33 restaurants, including 27 Red Lobster and six Olive Garden restaurants. Through subsidiaries, it owns and operates all of its restaurants in the United States and Canada, except for three restaurants located in Central Florida that is owned by joint ventures it manages. On November 14, 2011, it acquired eight Eddie V's Prime Seafo od restaurants and three Wildfish Seafood Grille restaurants.

As of May 27, 2012, the Company had 28 restaurants outside the United States and Canada operated by independent third parties pursuant to area development and franchise agreements, including five LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants in Puerto Rico, 22 Red Lobster restaurants in Japan, and one Red Lobster restaurant in Dubai. During fiscal year ended May 27, 2012, it opened 89 net new restaurants in the United States and Canada.

Red Lobster

Red Lobster is a full-service dining seafood specialty restaurant operator in the United States. It offers a menu featuring fresh fish, shrimp, crab, lobster, scallops and other seafood. The menu includes a variety of specialty seafood and non-seafood entrees, appetizers and desserts. Red Lobster maintains different lunch and ! dinner menus and different menus across its trade areas.

Olive Garden

Olive Garden is a full s ervice dining Italian restaurant operator in the United Stat! es. Olive Garden's menu includes a range of authentic Italian foods featuring fresh ingredients and a wine list that includes a selection of wines imported from Italy. The menu includes flatbreads and other appetizers, soups, salad and garlic bread sticks, baked pastas, sauted specialties with chicken, seafood and fresh vegetables, grilled meats, and a variety of desserts. Olive Garden also uses coffee imported from Italy for its espresso and cappuccino.

LongHorn Steakhouse

LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants are full-service establishments serving both lunch and dinner. With locations in 35 states, primarily in the Eastern half of the United States, LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants feature a range of menu items, including signature fresh steaks, as well as salmon, shrimp, chicken, ribs, pork chops, burgers and prime rib.

The Capital Grille

The Capital Grille has locations in metropolitan cities in the United States. The Capit al Grille offers seafood flown in daily and culinary specials created by its chefs. The restaurants feature a wine list offering over 350 selections, personalized service, and private dining rooms.

Bahama Breeze

Bahama Breeze restaurants bring guests the feeling of a Caribbean escape, offering the food, drinks and atmosphere found in the islands. The menu features Caribbean-inspired seafood, chicken and steaks, as well as signature specialty drinks. During fiscal 2012, it opened four Bahama Breeze restaurant.

Seasons 52

Seasons 52 is a grill and wine bar with seasonally inspired menus offering ingredients to meals that are lower in calories than comparable restaurant meals. It offers a wine list of more than 90 wines with approximately 60 available by the glass. As of May 27, 2012, there were 23 Se! asons 52 ! restaurants in the United States.

Synergy restaurant

Synergy restaurant houses both a Red Lo bster and Olive Garden restaurant in the same building, but ! with sepa! rate front doors, dining rooms and brand-specific menus. It opened a second synergy test location during fiscal 2012.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Steve Helber/AP There's dough in breadsticks and green in bottomless salad bowls at Olive Garden again. Parent company Darden Restaurants (DRI) posted better-than-expected quarterly results after Tuesday's market close. Sales from continuing operations rose nearly 5 percent to $1.56 billion, with adjusted earnings more than doubling to 28 cents a share. Both marks landed just ahead of the $1.55 billion in sales and profit of 27 cents a share that the pros were forecasting. However, the big headline number in Darden's report is that Olive Garden managed to post its first quarter of positive year-over-year growth in comparable-store sales in more than a year. Olive Garden's 0.5 percent uptick in comps may not seem like much It didn't keep pace with inflation or with what some of its casual-dining rivals are reporting, but it still snaps a streak of five quarters of negative comparable-restaurant sales growth at the once-fading Italian restaurant chain. Olive Garden Outsmarts Red Lobster Darden has a lot of young, exciting concepts. There's the beer-heavy Yard House, tropical Bahama Breeze, and health-conscious Seasons 52. There are also plenty of steakhouses, ranging from LongHorn on the casual end to the premium chophouse havens of Eddie V's and The Capital Grille. However, the lion's share of Darden's restaurants until earlier this year was Red Lobster and Olive Garden. The two chains combined for the majority of Darden's business, and when both concepts were struggling, they were dragging the parent down with their sloppy performances. Darden sold off Red Lobster earlier this year, and it seemed as if Olive Garden ! would be ! the next major concept to go if it didn't shape up. After all, Red Lobster was performing horribly, but Olive Garden wasn't doing a whole lot better. Despite Darden owning several concepts, Olive Garden still accounts for 57 percent of the company's total sales, accounting for 838 of Darden's 1,520 eateries. As Olive Garden goes, so go

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Darden Restaurants (DRI) jumped 2.6% after KeyBanc upgraded the Olive Garden parent to "buy" from "hold," saying the restaurant chain's menu revamp could reverse an earnings decline.

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  Starboard Value won all 12 seats on Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) board of directors following a vote at the company's annual investor meeting. Shares lost 1.83 percent, closing at $48.37.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Richard Levine/Alamy The "When you're here, you're family" casual-dining chain had a rude awakening at its annual family reunion Friday. Activist investors won the proxy battle at Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants (DRI), and now, we'll all get to see if the boardroom purge delivers results or makes matters worse. Friday morning's tally at Darden's annual shareholder meeting wasn't a huge surprise. Investors elected all 12 of the directors that hedge fund firm Starboard Value nominated, leaving the eight nominees that Darden brought to table out of the boardroom. Starboard had just an 8.8 percent effective stake in the restaurant operator, but it had been raising a stink in recent months about Darden's sloppy performance. Its displeasure culminated in a 294-slide presentation that took Darden to task for everything from not generating a high enough price for the sale of Red Lobster earlier this year to the lack of alcohol sales at Darden's LongHorn Steakhouse. Most of the presentation's critiques were directed at Olive Garden, where some of the widely circulated gems included calling the chain out for being too liberal with its breadsticks and s! alad dres! sing, failing to add salt to the water before boiling pasta, and having too many choices on the menu. Bored of Directors Darden's woes center around the weakness at Olive Garden, where comparable-restaurant sales have fallen for five consecutive quarters. Darden also runs LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V's and Yard House, but all of those better-performing chains still combine to make up a minority of the revenue mix. With Red Lobster out of the picture, Olive Garden now accounts for 57 percent of Darden's top-line results. Darden executives had lost Wall Street's confidence due to the pronounced weakness at Red Lobster and Olive Garden. The resignation of its CEO wasn't enough of a sacrificial lamb for activists seeing marinara-red over the fall from grace at

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