Moody’s lifts Darden Restaurants

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded the senior unsecured ratings of Darden Restaurants, Inc. to Baa2 from Baa3 and its short-term commercial paper rating to Prime-2 from Prime-3.

The outlook is stable.

"The upgrade reflects Darden's steady improvement in operating metrics and earnings and our view that operating performance will continue to strengthen as management focuses on driving sales, managing costs and strengthen its employee base particularly at its two core brands Olive Garden and LongHorns," Bill Fahy, Moody's senior credit officer, said in a news release.

"The upgrade also factors in management's clearly stated financial policy with an adjusted leverage target of between 2.0 to 2.5 times (as calculated by Darden) and its excellent liquidity.”

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