Bloomin’ Brands’ First-Half 2026 Profit Rises to $89.816 Million
Key Facts
Bloomin’ Brands reported net income of $89.816 million for the 26 weeks ended June 28, 2026, compared with $70.268 million in the same period of 2025. First-half revenue totaled $2,075.482 million, compared with $2,051.960 million a year earlier. Earnings and revenue both rose during the period, as management focused on continuing the turnaround at Outback Steakhouse. Chief Executive Mike Spanos said progress on the Outback turnaround plan contributed to the higher full-year earnings outlook. He added that the work is focused on food, service, the guest experience and providing value-priced options.
Second-quarter revenue reached $1,015.8 million, up 1.3% year over year. The restaurant-level operating margin rose to 12.4% from 12.0% in the second quarter of 2025. Diluted earnings per share were $0.37, compared with $0.29 a year earlier, while adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.39, compared with $0.32. These figures reflect improvements in quarterly revenue, margins and per-share earnings. In the United States, comparable sales rose 2.3% across the company’s combined restaurant base, while Outback Steakhouse recorded a 1.4% increase.
The company attributed the improvement in restaurant-level margin to a higher average check per person, driven mainly by pricing, and to productivity initiatives. It also cited lower pre-opening costs and health insurance expenses as supporting factors. By contrast, inflation-related commodity, labor and operating costs limited the impact of those factors. Higher advertising expenses added further pressure on the margin. The quarterly margin improvement therefore came amid a mix of favorable operating factors and higher costs.
Outback’s second-quarter comparable sales offer a different picture from the start of the year: in the first quarter, the chain’s U.S. comparable sales fell 0.3%, despite a 0.9% increase in the company’s combined comparable sales. Over the same period, revenue rose 1.0% to $1,059.7 million, and the restaurant-level operating margin increased to 14.0% from 13.9%. Management said at the time that Outback’s brand metrics continued to improve, citing the appeal of its steaks and food quality as part of the turnaround effort. In its 2025 results, the company also said Outback posted its first quarter of traffic growth since the fourth quarter of 2021. That context places the second-quarter comparable-sales improvement within a turnaround that the company said is still underway.
Bloomin’ Brands raised its 2026 outlook to diluted earnings per share of $0.85 to $0.95, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.90 to $1.00. The company began the year forecasting adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.75 to $0.90, then raised the range to $0.90–$1.00 in August. Spanos said progress on the Outback turnaround drove the increase in the full-year outlook. For the third quarter, the company forecast U.S. comparable-sales growth of 1.0% to 2.0%. It projected adjusted diluted earnings per share for the quarter at a loss of $0.27 to $0.22.
On financing, the company announced on September 29 that it had extended the maturity of its $1.2 billion revolving credit facility to September 25, 2031. It said lender commitments remained substantially unchanged and that the transaction was leverage-neutral. The maturity extension accompanied the first-half results and updated full-year outlook among the information the company provided on its financial position and strategic priorities. The disclosed facility details did not include a material change in lender commitments. The company had scheduled its fiscal 2026 third-quarter results for November 6, 2026, at approximately 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by a conference call at 8:00 a.m.