ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) on Thursday reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $232.3 million.

The Orlando, Florida-based company said it had net income of $1.89 per share. Earnings, adjusted to account for discontinued operations, were $1.90 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.88 per share.

The owner of Olive Garden and other chain restaurants posted revenue of $2.35 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.32 billion.

Darden Restaurants shares have declined 69% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has dropped 26%.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DRI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DRI

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News