ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) on Thursday reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $24.7 million.

On a per-share basis, the Orlando, Florida-based company said it had net income of 20 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and to account for discontinued operations, came to $1.12 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.07 per share.

The owner of Olive Garden and other chain restaurants posted revenue of $2.06 billion in the period, which met Street forecasts.

Darden Restaurants expects full-year earnings in the range of $6.30 to $6.45 per share.

Darden Restaurants shares have risen 16% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 27%.

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