Investopedia: Darden Hits A Dry Patch

As the economy continues to wobble along in the U.S., economically sensitive businesses like restaurants continue to face some significant challenges. Newer concepts like BJ's Restaurants (Nasdaq:BJRI) and Buffalo Wild Wings (Nasdaq:BWLD) continue to bring in the patrons, but many established chains are having to work harder and harder for even minor improvements in comp-store growth.

That puts Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in a tough spot. Darden is definitely a well-run veteran restaurant operator, but the company's core restaurants like Olive Garden and Red Lobster are hardly novel to the restaurant going public. With same-store sales coming in a little weak for the fiscal fourth quarter and the stock sporting a fairly robust multiple, it seems like this is a stock that is going to be stuck for at least a little while longer.

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