DRI vs. BJRI, CAKE, PLAY, TXRH, ARCO, DIN, EAT, FDX, CMG, and YUM
Should you be buying Darden Restaurants stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Darden Restaurants include BJ's Restaurants (BJRI), Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Dave & Buster's Entertainment (PLAY), Texas Roadhouse (TXRH), Arcos Dorados (ARCO), Dine Brands Global (DIN), Brinker International (EAT), FedEx (FDX), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), and Yum! Brands (YUM).
Darden Restaurants vs. Its Competitors
BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) and Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk and dividends.
BJ's Restaurants has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Darden Restaurants has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Darden Restaurants had 14 more articles in the media than BJ's Restaurants. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Darden Restaurants and 13 mentions for BJ's Restaurants. Darden Restaurants' average media sentiment score of 1.15 beat BJ's Restaurants' score of 0.93 indicating that Darden Restaurants is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
99.9% of BJ's Restaurants shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.9% of BJ's Restaurants shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Darden Restaurants has higher revenue and earnings than BJ's Restaurants. Darden Restaurants is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BJ's Restaurants, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
BJ's Restaurants pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Darden Restaurants pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. BJ's Restaurants pays out 43.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Darden Restaurants pays out 64.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Darden Restaurants has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Darden Restaurants is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Darden Restaurants has a net margin of 8.90% compared to BJ's Restaurants' net margin of 1.99%. Darden Restaurants' return on equity of 52.35% beat BJ's Restaurants' return on equity.
BJ's Restaurants presently has a consensus price target of $39.67, suggesting a potential upside of 22.81%. Darden Restaurants has a consensus price target of $225.59, suggesting a potential upside of 19.46%. Given BJ's Restaurants' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe BJ's Restaurants is more favorable than Darden Restaurants.
Summary
Darden Restaurants beats BJ's Restaurants on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding DRI and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NYSE:DRI) was last updated on 10/15/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff