Darden Restaurants, Inc. - DRI

Other than McDonald's (MCD), refer to my prior blog post, Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) is my favorite full-service restaurant company. DRI operates over 1,800 restaurants in the United States and Canada. DRI offers a great selection of diversification within the fine dining sector. Unlike McDonald's they have the mid-level to high end dining experience down to a science. Click on each restaurant below to explore how diversified DRI really is.

Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52

I believe this stock will go higher as the economy continues to get better. People may not buy new houses or take luxurious vacations, however they will treat themselves to a succulent dinner at Olive Garden or Red Lobster. Have you ever visited an Olive Garden? It is always packed, especially on weekend nights, and you usually need to take a number and wait for a table. They are a fine dining conglomerate!

DRI pays a $0.43 cent dividend per quarter (current yield of 3.75%). They recently increased their quarterly dividend by $0.11 from $0.32 to $0.43.  As they continue to expand into other regions of the U.S. and into other countries I expect this stock to pop and stay there for years to come. Add this stock to your Roth IRA on Monday if possible. After watching this video below you can't sit there and tell me that Darden is not the best in class!

Hungry for some Darden stock yet? Feel free to comment below with your take on DRI.