--- title: "Darden Restaurants: Risk Monitoring" description: "Darden Restaurants financial risk indicators from its SEC filings (leverage, liquidity, interest coverage, debt load) compared with peers, with filings linked." canonical: https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/darden-restaurants/risks/ source: "Swoopr Investment: https://www.getswoopr.com" --- # Darden Restaurants: Risk & Monitoring Guide ## Direct Answer Darden Restaurants's fiscal 2026 filings show liabilities equal 83% of assets; current liabilities exceed current assets (current ratio 0.3x). These figures measure financial risk only; the business risks Darden Restaurants itself considers material are listed under Item 1A, Risk Factors, of its Form 10-K, most recently filed July 24, 2026. ## What Do Darden Restaurants's Financial Risk Indicators Show? | Indicator (fiscal 2026) | Darden Restaurants | Peer median (same SIC code) | What it measures | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Liabilities to assets | 83% | 69% | How much of the balance sheet is funded by obligations rather than equity. | | Current ratio | 0.3x | 0.9x | Short-term assets per dollar of obligations due within a year. | | Interest coverage | 12.5x | 0.8x | Operating income per dollar of interest expense. | | Long-term debt to operating cash flow | n/a | 3.3x | Years of operating cash flow it would take to repay long-term debt. | | Net debt | $1.4 billion | n/a | Long-term debt minus cash; negative means more cash than long-term debt. | The peer median uses 30 other companies in Swoopr's S&P 500 Equal Weight set that share the same SEC SIC code. A reading worse than the peer median is a prompt to read the filing, not a conclusion. ![Bar chart of Darden Restaurants balance sheet at the end of fiscal 2026: total assets $12.9 billion, total liabilities $10.7 billion, shareholders' equity $2.2 billion, long-term debt $1.6 billion, cash and equivalents $220 million.](https://www.getswoopr.com/images/charts/darden-restaurants-risks-balance-sheet.webp) *Darden Restaurants balance sheet items at the end of fiscal 2026, from the figures in the table above. Long-term debt is highlighted. Select the chart to open it full size.* ## Where Are Darden Restaurants's Official Risk Factors? The risks Darden Restaurants considers material are disclosed in Item 1A of its Form 10-K, most recently [filed July 24, 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/940944/000094094426000025/dri-20260531.htm). Read them with three questions in mind: which risks are specific to this company rather than generic, which have changed since the prior year's filing, and which connect to the figures above (a refinancing risk matters more when interest coverage is thin). ## Where These Numbers Come From Every figure on this page is a value Darden Restaurants reported in its own SEC filings, read from the SEC's XBRL data (accession 0000940944-26-000025 for fiscal year 2026). Ratios are computed from those reported values. Figures were retrieved on October 7, 2026; a later amendment or a new annual report can change them, and the filing itself always takes precedence over this summary. Each fiscal year is labeled by the calendar year in which it ended, so a company that names the same period differently in its own filings (many retailers whose year ends in January) may use another label. A year is left out of the table when the SEC data set holds no value for it. A figure shown as "Not reported" means the company did not file a value under the standard tag Swoopr reads, not that the amount was zero. This page is educational and describes reported history only; it is not a forecast or a recommendation. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Is Darden Restaurants highly leveraged? At the end of fiscal 2026, Darden Restaurants's total liabilities were 83% of total assets, against a peer median of 69%. Leverage that is normal for one industry (banks, utilities) can be high for another. ### Where are Darden Restaurants's official risk factors? In Item 1A, Risk Factors, of its annual report on Form 10-K, most recently filed with the SEC on July 24, 2026. The company lists the risks it considers material there; the measures on this page only quantify the financial side. ### Can Darden Restaurants pay its interest? In fiscal 2026, operating income covered interest expense 12.5x. Coverage below about 3x leaves little room if earnings fall. ## References - [SEC EDGAR: DARDEN RESTAURANTS INC Form 10-K filed July 24, 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/940944/000094094426000025/dri-20260531.htm) - [SEC EDGAR: DARDEN RESTAURANTS INC annual and quarterly filings](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=940944&type=10-K) - [SEC: EDGAR application programming interfaces (XBRL frames and submissions data)](https://www.sec.gov/search-filings/edgar-application-programming-interfaces) ## Related Pages - [Darden Restaurants company dossier](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/darden-restaurants/) - [Darden Restaurants financial metrics](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/darden-restaurants/metrics/) - [Darden Restaurants financial risk indicators](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/darden-restaurants/risks/) - [Darden Restaurants peer comparison](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/darden-restaurants/competitors/) - [Darden Restaurants business model and revenue mix](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/darden-restaurants/business-model/) - [Fundamental analysis guides](https://www.getswoopr.com/learn/fundamental-analysis/) **[Swoopr Editorial Team](https://www.getswoopr.com/authors/swoopr-editorial-team/)** Swoopr's editorial team produces independent investment education content reviewed for accuracy and clarity. We do not provide personalized financial advice. See our [editorial policy](https://www.getswoopr.com/legal/editorial-policy/) and [corrections policy](https://www.getswoopr.com/legal/corrections-policy/).