Darden Restaurants (DRI) Stock Upgraded at Piper Jaffrey
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Darden Restaurants (DRI) - Get Report are up 1.9% to $64.48 on Tuesday morning as the stock was upgraded to "outperform" from "neutral" and its price target increased to $78 from $67 at Piper Jaffrey.
"We are now confident in this restaurant operating model given the fully formed management team and expect consistency in leadership to drive sustainable 'outperformance' of the Darden brands," Piper Jaffrey analysts said in an investor note.
In addition, Darden's focus on "everyday value and customization" continues to perform well at the company's restaurants, the firm noted.
Despite being off its highs, Darden stock has done well over the past two years and pays an attractive dividend yield of nearly 3.2%. The company had a drop in commodity prices, which is good for its costs, and a boost in same-store sales, TheStreet's Jim Cramer, co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, said on today's CNBC's "Mad Dash."
The Orlando-based full-service restaurant company operates more than 1,500 establishments such as Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Bahama Breeze.
Separately, TheStreet Ratings rated Darden Restaurants as a "buy" with a score of A.
TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon.
Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:
This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that are rated.
The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and notable return on equity.
TheStreet Ratings feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.
You can view the full analysis from the report here: DRI
