SunTrust analyst Jake Bartlett raised his price target on Darden to $141 and kept his Buy rating after its "strong" Q3 results, saying its earnings beat and higher than expected comps gave him greater confidence in the company's ability to sustain traffic and drive margin expansion. The analyst attributes the quarter to Darden's "strong operating execution and value proposition" as well as "solid restaurant demand" suggesting that the industry has the pricing power to offset cost inflation. Bartlett adds that while FY20 unit openings forecast was lower than he expected, he sees acceleration in new restaurants the following year.