Darden Restaurants Inc. on Dec. 18 further raised its EPS outlook for fiscal 2019 as it reported second-quarter results that beat analysts' expectations.

The restaurant operator now expects diluted net EPS for the full year to come in between $5.60 and $5.70 from a previous expectation of $5.52 to $5.65. It also expects same-restaurant sales to grow 2.5%.

For the quarter ended Nov. 25, Darden's diluted net EPS came in at 92 cents, up 26% from the previous fiscal year on an adjusted basis. The fiscal second-quarter S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus estimate for normalized EPS was 91 cents.

Darden, which runs Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Eddie V's, among other restaurant chains, reported total sales of $1.97 billion for the second quarter, up 4.9% compared to the same period in fiscal 2018. Same-restaurant sales also grew 2.1%.