ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) on Thursday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $480 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Orlando, Florida-based company said it had a loss of $3.86. Losses, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.24 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of $1.66 per share.

The owner of Olive Garden and other chain restaurants posted revenue of $1.27 billion in the period, missing Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.28 billion.

For the year, the company reported a loss of $52.4 million, or 43 cents per share, swinging to a loss in the period. Revenue was reported as $7.81 billion.

Darden Restaurants shares have declined 35% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has fallen almost 6%.

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