Darden Restaurants, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. The company operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Chuy's, Yard House, Ruth's Chris Steak House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, Bahama Breeze, The Capital Burger, Darden and Darden Restaurants brand names. Darden Restaurants, Inc. was …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 90.7th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 1.00), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
Key risks
Liquidity ConcernsLiquidity is concerning (score 0.17), raising questions about short-term obligations.
The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks
against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.
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Darden Restaurants, Inc. ranks #8 of 57
scored companies in Restaurants by moat score — the top 14%.
The widest moat in the group is Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM)
at 83/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near DRI in Restaurants
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 86
· 15% of the moat score
A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.
Customer Stickiness
Score 67
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 89
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 54
· 17% of the moat score
Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.
Scale & Market Position
Score 58
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) scores 72 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #8 of 57 scored companies in Restaurants, the top 14%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 56 companies in Restaurants. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (89/100) and its weakest is Resilience (54/100).
How does Darden Restaurants, Inc. compare with other Restaurants companies?
Darden Restaurants, Inc. ranks #8 of 57 scored companies in Restaurants by moat score. The widest moat in Restaurants is Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM) at 83/100. The companies ranked closest are Wendy's Company (The) (WEN) at 72 just above it and Restaurant Brands International (QSR) at 70 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 56 companies in Restaurants. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Darden Restaurants, Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?
Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.
Which competitive defenses are measured for Darden Restaurants, Inc.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and DRI scores: Pricing Power (75), Cost Advantage (86), Customer Stickiness (67), Capital Efficiency (89), Resilience (54), Scale & Market Position (58). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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