Darden Restaurants Inc. shares rose 1.3% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the operator of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse restaurant chains beat profit and sales estimates for its first fiscal quarter. Darden said it had net income of $86.4 million, or 68 cents a share, in the quarter, down sharply from $503.2 million, or $3.81 a share, in the year-earlier period, when the numbers were impacted by a gain on the sale of discontinued operations. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 63 cents, ahead of the FactSet consensus of 58 cents. Sales rose 5.7% to $1.69 billion, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.68 billion. The company said it is raising its outlook for adjusted EPS for fiscal 2016 to $3.15 to $3.30 versus a prior $3.05 to $3.20. Its same-restaurant sales growth outlook is unchanged at 2.0% to 2.5%. Shares have gained about 20% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has fallen 5%.
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