Darden Restaurants vs Yum China
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Darden Restaurants is the larger business, with $13.2B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $11.8B for Yum China.
- Darden Restaurants grew revenue faster (9.4%, against 4.4%).
- Darden Restaurants kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (12.0% operating margin, against 10.9%).
- Darden Restaurants turned more of its sales into free cash flow (8.5% FCF margin, against 7.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Darden Restaurants’s earnings: a P/E of 20.8x against 16.3x for Yum China.
| Latest fiscal year | DRI · FY26 | YUMC · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $24.3B | $15.5B |
| Revenue | $13.2B | $11.8B |
| Free cash flow | $1.1B | $840M |
| Net income | $1.2B | $929M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 9.4% | 4.4% |
| 5-year growth | 12.9% | 7.4% |
| Share count change | −1.8% | −4.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 20.3% | — |
| Operating margin | 12.0% | 10.9% |
| Net margin | 9.1% | 7.9% |
| FCF margin | 8.5% | 7.1% |
| Return on capital | 24.8% | — |
| Return on equity | 53.4% | 16.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $3.2B | — |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.5x | — |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.4B | $1.5B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 20.8x | 16.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | — |
Revenue
FY17
DRI $7.2B
YUMC $7.8B
FY18
DRI $8.1B
YUMC $8.4B
FY19
DRI $8.5B
YUMC $8.8B
FY20
DRI $7.8B
YUMC $8.3B
FY21
DRI $7.2B
YUMC $9.9B
FY22
DRI $9.6B
YUMC $9.6B
FY23
DRI $10.5B
YUMC $11.0B
FY24
DRI $11.4B
YUMC $11.3B
FY25
DRI $12.1B
YUMC $11.8B
FY26
DRI $13.2B
YUMC —
DRI
YUMC
Operating margin
FY17
DRI 9.5%
YUMC 10.0%
FY18
DRI 9.5%
YUMC 11.2%
FY19
DRI 9.8%
YUMC 10.3%
FY20
DRI 0.6%
YUMC 11.6%
FY21
DRI 9.0%
YUMC 14.1%
FY22
DRI 12.1%
YUMC 6.6%
FY23
DRI 11.5%
YUMC 10.1%
FY24
DRI 11.5%
YUMC 10.3%
FY25
DRI 11.3%
YUMC 10.9%
FY26
DRI 12.0%
YUMC —
DRI
YUMC
Free cash flow
FY17
DRI $623M
YUMC $469M
FY18
DRI $624M
YUMC $863M
FY19
DRI $816M
YUMC $750M
FY20
DRI $258M
YUMC $695M
FY21
DRI $939M
YUMC $442M
FY22
DRI $888M
YUMC $734M
FY23
DRI $988M
YUMC $763M
FY24
DRI $1.0B
YUMC $714M
FY25
DRI $1.1B
YUMC $840M
FY26
DRI $1.1B
YUMC —
DRI
YUMC
Return on capital
FY17
DRI 20.8%
YUMC —
FY18
DRI 26.5%
YUMC —
FY19
DRI 26.2%
YUMC —
FY20
DRI 1.3%
YUMC —
FY21
DRI 20.8%
YUMC —
FY22
DRI 29.8%
YUMC —
FY23
DRI 27.7%
YUMC —
FY24
DRI 26.2%
YUMC —
FY25
DRI 22.6%
YUMC —
FY26
DRI 24.8%
YUMC —
DRI
YUMC
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.