-=Darden Restaurants (DRI) reported earnings on Thur 21 June 18 (b/o)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Darden Restaurants' fourth-quarter topped Wall Street expectations, buoyed by strong sales at most of its restaurants.

Darden appears to be capitalizing on Americans' appetite for eating out. Even though gas prices are climbing, Americans spent more at bars and restaurants in May, with sales up 1.3 percent, according to the Commerce Department. Americans seem to be highly confident about the economy, buoyed by steady job gains, an unemployment rate at an 18-year low and Trump administration tax cuts.

For the three months ended May 27, Darden — the owner or Olive Garden and other restaurants — earned $174.5 million, or $1.39 per share. A year earlier, the Orlando, Florida-based company earns $123.8 million, or 98 cents per share.

That's 4 cents better than what analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research predicted.

Shares surged more than 9 percent before the opening bell on Thursday.

Revenue increased to $2.13 billion from $1.93 billion, beating the $2.12 billion that Wall Street expected.

Sales at Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants open at least a year both rose 2.4 percent in the quarter. At Eddie V's, the figure jumped 3.6 percent and at The Capital Grille the metric climbed 2.6 percent. Yard House, Seasons 52 and Bahama Breeze also reported sales growth.

For fiscal 2018, Darden Restaurants Inc. earned $596 million, or $4.73 per share, on revenue of $8.08 billion.

Going forward, the company anticipates fiscal 2019 earnings of $5.40 to $5.56 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet are looking for earnings of $5.41 per share.