Piper Jaffray Reiterates Overweight on Darden Restaurants

Piper Jaffray is out with its report today on Darden Restaurants DRI, reiterating Overweight. In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "At +2.2% for core concepts, the company's 4Q11 SSS results were generally in-line with our +2.5% estimate, taking into account pricing differences at the Olive Garden brand, and were a touch below the Street's expectations at +2.8%. Of note, Darden continued its trend of outperforming the broader industry (as measured by Knapp-Track results), where the company's core comp was 30 bps better than KT (ex. Darden) in calendar year 2Q11. We are encouraged by the quarter's results and maintain our expectation for ongoing relative out-performance. We are increasing our FY12 estimates, which fall at the low-end of the company's new guidance. We reiterate our Overweight rating and our $56 PT on DRI shares." Shares of DRI closed Thursday at $49.76, up 0.93% from Wednesday's close.