Darden Restaurants
DRI · Restaurants
$212.40
2.4%McDonald's
MCD · Restaurants
$248.46
1.7%The short version
- McDonald's is the larger business, with $26.9B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $13.2B for Darden Restaurants, about 2.0 times as much.
- Darden Restaurants grew revenue faster (9.4%, against 3.7%).
- McDonald's kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (46.1% operating margin, against 12.0% operating margin).
- McDonald's turned more of its sales into free cash flow (26.7% FCF margin, against 8.5% FCF margin).
- McDonald's earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (25.4%, against 24.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Darden Restaurants’s earnings: a P/E of 20.8x against 20.2x for McDonald's.
| Latest fiscal year | DRI · FY26 | MCD · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $24.3B | $176.7B |
| Revenue | $13.2B | $26.9B |
| Free cash flow | $1.1B | $7.2B |
| Net income | $1.2B | $8.6B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 9.4% | 3.7% |
| 5-year growth | 12.9% | 7.0% |
| Share count change | −1.8% | −0.8% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 20.3% | — |
| Operating margin | 12.0% | 46.1% |
| Net margin | 9.1% | 31.9% |
| FCF margin | 8.5% | 26.7% |
| Return on capital | 24.8% | 25.4% |
| Return on equity | 53.4% | — |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $3.2B | $42.3B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.5x | 3.3x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.4B | $7.2B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 20.8x | 20.2x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 6 |
FY17
DRI $7.2B
MCD $22.8B
FY18
DRI $8.1B
MCD $21.3B
FY19
DRI $8.5B
MCD $21.4B
FY20
DRI $7.8B
MCD $19.2B
FY21
DRI $7.2B
MCD $23.2B
FY22
DRI $9.6B
MCD $23.2B
FY23
DRI $10.5B
MCD $25.5B
FY24
DRI $11.4B
MCD $25.9B
FY25
DRI $12.1B
MCD $26.9B
FY26
DRI $13.2B
MCD —
DRI
MCD
FY17
DRI 9.5%
MCD 41.9%
FY18
DRI 9.5%
MCD 41.5%
FY19
DRI 9.8%
MCD 42.5%
FY20
DRI 0.6%
MCD 38.1%
FY21
DRI 9.0%
MCD 44.6%
FY22
DRI 12.1%
MCD 40.4%
FY23
DRI 11.5%
MCD 45.7%
FY24
DRI 11.5%
MCD 45.2%
FY25
DRI 11.3%
MCD 46.1%
FY26
DRI 12.0%
MCD —
DRI
MCD
FY17
DRI $623M
MCD $3.7B
FY18
DRI $624M
MCD $4.2B
FY19
DRI $816M
MCD $5.7B
FY20
DRI $258M
MCD $4.6B
FY21
DRI $939M
MCD $7.1B
FY22
DRI $888M
MCD $5.5B
FY23
DRI $988M
MCD $7.3B
FY24
DRI $1.0B
MCD $6.7B
FY25
DRI $1.1B
MCD $7.2B
FY26
DRI $1.1B
MCD —
DRI
MCD
FY17
DRI 20.8%
MCD 25.0%
FY18
DRI 26.5%
MCD 28.0%
FY19
DRI 26.2%
MCD 27.8%
FY20
DRI 1.3%
MCD 22.0%
FY21
DRI 20.8%
MCD 32.6%
FY22
DRI 29.8%
MCD 27.6%
FY23
DRI 27.7%
MCD 31.6%
FY24
DRI 26.2%
MCD 27.4%
FY25
DRI 22.6%
MCD 25.4%
FY26
DRI 24.8%
MCD —
DRI
MCD
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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.