Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) stock rose Thursday after the company posted solid second-quarter sales growth and reaffirmed full-year earnings guidance.

The company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.08, missing the analyst consensus estimate of $2.10.

Metrics

Quarterly sales of $3.102 billion (+7.3% year over year) outpaced the Street view of $3.071 billion.

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The firm said that the sales growth was driven by a blended same-restaurant sales increase of 4.3% and sales from 30 net new restaurants.

Consolidated Darden same-restaurant sales were driven by Olive Garden, which posted a 4.7% increase. LongHorn Steakhouse increased 5.9%, while Fine Dining grew 0.8%. Other Business posted a 3.1% same-restaurant sales gain.

“Our restaurant teams did a great job of being brilliant with the basics, driving record, or near-record, guest satisfaction scores across all our brands,” said Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas.

Quarterly sales at Olive Garden stood at ...