Git You Some of That, There, Eye-talian Food

With earnings well out of the way, Darden Restaurants remains one of the more intriguing restaurant plays seemingly flying under-the-radar compared the likes of MCD SHAK WEN WING YUM, among other stocks in the genera restaurant complex. 

However, it is likely a mistake to overlook DRI, owner of full-service dining brands like: Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, and Eddie V's. 

The recent push higher in oil and gas prices may be a knee-jerk deterrent to consumer-related plays like DRI. But I suspect we would need to see a much larger spike in crude before that becomes a legitimate issue for the market. 

In the meantime, the Olive Garden owner may benefit from families sitting down to unlimited breadsticks and bastardized versions of Italian cuisine. 

On the DRI daily chart, updated below, there is nothing to quibble with technically. Darden is in a clean uptrend and even outperforming on a slow, mixed day like today. Trading at a $14 billion market cap, I would also not be surprised to see a private or publicly-held monster firm take a run at DRI in a big deal. 

Longer-term, the prior $124 all-time highs from last September figure to be the next hurdle for bulls to clear out of a massive weekly chart base.