Bloomin’ Brands Raises Outlook as Sales Growth Accelerates

The Tip Desk · August 5, 2026 · 2 min read

Adjusted earnings of $0.39 a share exceeded the restaurant operator’s prior forecast.

Bloomin’ Brands (BLMN), the restaurant operator behind Outback Steakhouse, reported faster second-quarter sales growth as U.S. comparable sales improved across its brands and margins widened from a year earlier.

Revenue rose 1.3% to $1.016 billion, accelerating from 1.0% growth in the first quarter and 0.3% in the fourth quarter, though it remained below the third quarter’s 2.1% pace. Diluted earnings increased to $0.37 a share from $0.29 a year earlier, while adjusted earnings rose to $0.39 from $0.32.

Combined U.S. comparable sales rose 2.3%, up from 0.9% in the first quarter and a 0.1% decline a year earlier. The increase was driven by a 4.2% higher average check, while traffic fell 1.9%.

Bonefish Grill led the portfolio with an 8.1% comparable-sales increase, accelerating from 6.1% in the first quarter. Its traffic rose 4.5%, making it the only disclosed brand to record a traffic gain. Outback’s comparable sales improved to 1.4% from a 0.3% decline in the prior quarter, even as traffic decreased 2.8%.

Restaurant-level operating margin expanded 0.4 percentage point to 12.4% as pricing, productivity measures and lower pre-opening and health-insurance costs outweighed commodity, labor and other operating-cost inflation. GAAP operating margin rose 0.8 point to 3.8%, while adjusted operating margin increased 0.5 point to 4.0%.

Bloomin’ raised its 2026 diluted-earnings forecast to $0.85 to $0.95 a share from $0.70 to $0.85 and its adjusted forecast to $0.90 to $1.00 from $0.75 to $0.90. The company narrowed its U.S. comparable-sales outlook to growth of 1% to 2%, preserving the midpoint of its previous range.

The company expects a seasonal reversal in the third quarter, forecasting an adjusted loss of $0.27 to $0.22 a share. Bloomin’ ended the second quarter with 1,448 restaurants after nine closures and five openings, while total debt declined $84.6 million from year-end to $702.8 million.