Darden Restaurants key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2026, Darden Restaurants had return on equity of 53.4%, an operating margin of 12.0%, debt equal to 105.6% of equity and a current ratio of 0.31. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Darden Restaurants: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2010May 2010	2011May 2011	2012May 2012	2013May 2013	2014May 2014	2015May 2015	2016May 2016	2017May 2017	2018May 2018	2019May 2019	2020May 2020	2021May 2021	2022May 2022	2023May 2023	2024May 2024	2025May 2025	2026May 2026	LTMAug 2026
Gross margin	22.9%	24.0%	23.3%	18.0%	16.6%	17.4%	18.8%	18.5%	18.5%	18.7%	15.0%	19.5%	19.7%	19.0%	20.1%	20.5%	20.3%	20.3%
Operating margin	—	—	—	6.8%	4.9%	5.4%	9.0%	9.4%	9.5%	9.8%	0.6%	9.0%	12.1%	11.5%	11.5%	11.3%	12.0%	11.7%
Net margin	5.7%	6.4%	8.9%	7.0%	4.6%	10.5%	5.4%	6.7%	7.4%	8.4%	−0.7%	8.7%	9.9%	9.4%	9.0%	8.7%	9.1%	8.8%
Free-cash-flow margin	6.6%	4.6%	1.0%	1.4%	2.2%	8.5%	8.5%	8.7%	7.7%	9.6%	3.3%	13.0%	9.2%	9.4%	9.0%	8.8%	8.5%	7.9%
Return on equity	21.4%	24.9%	25.2%	21.1%	13.6%	31.6%	17.5%	23.6%	27.7%	31.1%	−2.2%	24.5%	38.0%	44.6%	46.2%	46.1%	53.4%	55.3%
Return on assets	7.7%	8.9%	8.3%	6.4%	4.1%	10.9%	7.1%	9.7%	11.1%	12.6%	−0.7%	6.1%	9.2%	9.6%	9.5%	8.8%	9.5%	9.1%
Asset turnover	1.35	1.40	0.93	0.92	0.90	1.03	1.31	1.45	1.50	1.50	0.99	0.70	0.93	1.03	1.06	1.01	1.04	1.02
Current ratio	0.57	0.52	0.43	0.54	1.22	0.88	0.69	0.46	0.40	0.61	0.61	1.01	0.64	0.52	0.38	0.42	0.31	0.30
Debt to equity	86.3%	82.3%	112.2%	129.2%	124.5%	63.3%	23.1%	45.2%	42.8%	39.3%	51.4%	33.4%	42.7%	42.7%	65.0%	94.7%	105.6%	126.5%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	—	—	—	3.2x	2.3x	2.0x	3.8x	19.7x	5.0x	18.8x	1.0x	13.7x	28.4x	23.9x	14.1x	11.8x	12.5x	—
Effective tax rate	25.1%	26.1%	21.4%	13.4%	−4.9%	−12.0%	20.0%	24.3%	0.3%	8.1%	—	−9.7%	12.7%	12.2%	12.3%	11.5%	12.6%	12.7%
SG&A as % of revenue	9.7%	9.9%	10.1%	10.6%	10.6%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Capital spending as % of revenue	6.1%	7.3%	8.6%	8.6%	6.6%	4.4%	3.3%	4.1%	4.9%	5.3%	5.9%	3.5%	3.9%	5.4%	5.3%	5.3%	5.6%	5.5%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	116.5%	72.9%	11.8%	20.5%	49.1%	81.4%	157.9%	130.1%	104.7%	114.3%	—	149.1%	93.2%	100.6%	99.3%	101.2%	92.7%	89.2%
Dividends ÷ net income	34.6%	36.8%	47.1%	62.7%	100.7%	39.3%	71.5%	58.3%	52.6%	52.0%	—	32.2%	59.1%	60.1%	61.2%	62.7%	57.4%	59.4%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	47.8%	161.7%	>999%	368.4%	205.4%	135.2%	76.5%	81.7%	87.9%	70.9%	253.4%	26.4%	184.1%	106.1%	106.1%	101.3%	121.9%	133.9%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Darden Restaurants: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2025 Q2Nov 2024	2025 Q3Feb 2025	2025 Q4May 2025	2026 Q1Aug 2025	2026 Q2Nov 2025	2026 Q3Feb 2026	2026 Q4May 2026	2027 Q1Aug 2026
Gross margin	19.7%	21.3%	21.6%	18.9%	18.7%	21.0%	22.1%	18.8%
Operating margin	10.1%	13.2%	11.7%	11.1%	10.3%	12.1%	13.9%	10.0%
Net margin	7.4%	10.2%	9.3%	8.5%	7.6%	9.2%	10.9%	7.3%
Free-cash-flow margin	7.6%	13.6%	8.7%	5.5%	3.9%	13.5%	10.2%	3.2%
Current ratio	0.37	0.39	0.42	0.40	0.39	0.39	0.31	0.30
Debt to equity	115.7%	99.0%	92.1%	102.3%	123.9%	115.5%	105.6%	126.5%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

1 of 6 checks passed · August 30, 2026

What it owns · $13.2bn

Short-term assets $953mLonger-term assets $12.3bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $13.2bn

Short-term liabilities $3.2bnLonger-term liabilities $8.0bnShareholders' equity $2.1bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $953m of assets due within a year against $3.2bn of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $953m short-term assets against $8.0bn of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $220m of cash against $2.6bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 126% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 40% to 126% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $1.8bn of operating cash flow against $2.6bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Interest not separately reported. Not assessable.

From Darden Restaurants's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

58 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Darden Restaurants's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 13 / 20

Net income has been a median 8.7% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 8 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 19.1%, moving by 1.6 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
Durability 2 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 11.1%; its worst year was -1.3%.
Cash conversion 14 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 8.5% of revenue.
Discipline 20 / 20

The diluted share count fell 12.5% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.6% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Darden Restaurants's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 20, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Darden Restaurants.