Why Darden Restaurants Inc. Stock Popped Today

Shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) climbed 6.7% Tuesday after the company announced stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

More specifically, for the second quarter of its fiscal 2018, Darden's revenue a climbed 14.6% year over year to $1.88 billion -- comfortably above the $1.85 billion investors were anticipating -- including 11.5% growth related to its acquisition of Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen earlier this year, and a 3.1% increase in blended same-restaurant sales from Darden's legacy brands.

On the bottom line, that translated to 14.1% growth in adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings per diluted share to $0.73, above analysts' consensus estimates for adjusted earnings of $0.70 per share.

Source: Fool.com