June 20 -

Darden Restaurants ( DRI ) beat market expectations for

fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, as higher menu prices and

lower wages more than offset rising costs of meat and cooking

ingredients, sending its shares up 3% in premarket trading.

The Orlando, Florida-based company said menu prices were

steadily pushed up to soften the blow of sticky inflation, while

its high-end chains, Olive Garden ( DRI ) and LongHorn Steakhouse,

continued to attract a steady clientele.

The company reported adjusted profit of $2.65 per share in

the quarter ended May 26, compared with analysts' average

estimates of $2.61 per share, according to LSEG data.

Darden's total same-store sales were flat in the quarter,

after falling 1% in the last quarter.

The company's total sales increased 6.8% to $2.96 billion in

the current quarter, slightly below estimates of $2.97 billion.

Quarterly sales have dropped for restaurants and companies

in the fast food industry such as McDonald's, Yum Brands ( YUM )

and Starbucks ( SBUX ) as consumers become cautious

about eating out.

Same-store sales, however, at LongHorn Steakhouse business

rose 4% compared to 2.3% rise in the previous quarter.

As per Placer.ai data, customer traffic at Olive Garden ( DRI )

restaurants rose 1.2% on average between March and May, whereas

it jumped 5.2% at LongHorn Steakhouse for the same period.

The data projects annual adjusted profit to be in the range

of $9.4 to $9.6 per share, compared with analysts' average

estimate of $9.55 per share.

The company also forecast annual sales in the range of $11.8

billion to $11.9 billion, below analysts' estimates of $11.94

billion.