The U.S. stock market fell today, with the Dow Jones below 150 points. Shares of Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI, Financial) however, jumped in Thursday trading after the company posted fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.39 on revenue of $2.13 million. The company beat earnings estimates by 4 cents and was in-line with revenue expectations.
CEO Gene Lee said, “Our solid fourth quarter results concluded another strong year of performance as we executed our back-to-basics operating philosophy and strengthened our competitive advantages."
During the trimester, the company repurchased approximately 300,000 shares of its common stock, for a total of $27 million. Also, the board of directors authorized a new share repurchase program of up to $500 million of its outstanding common stock. Yesterday, the board increased the quarterly dividend 19% to 75 cents per common share.
Looking ahead, the company expects same-restaurant sales growth of 1.0% to 2.0%, total sales growth of 4.0% to 5.0% and diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations between $5.40 and $5.56 for the full fiscal year 2019.
Gainers
• Kroger Co. (KR, Financial)
• CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF, Financial)
• Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ, Financial)
• PPL Corp. (PPL, Financial)
Losers
• Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO, Financial)
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD, Financial)
• Twitter Inc. (TWTR, Financial)
• Ralph Lauren Corp. (RL, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded in negative territory. The U.K.'s FTSE lost 0.80%, France's CAC fell 0.79%, Spain's Ibex declined 0.68% and Germany's Dax closed down 1.29%.
In Asia, markets closed in the green. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.61%, India’s BSE Sensex slid 0.32%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 1.35% and China´s Shanghai fell 1.37%.
Disclosure: The author holds no position in any stocks mentioned.
