Today we exit DRI at even money...here's what happened...very interesting.

Dri did what it was supposed to do. It came out with poor results and it was supposed to drop. But one of its large activist investors stepped up and counteracted these results with a huge plan to revitalize DRI. Knowing that DRI was going to drop because of poor earnings, this investor stepped forward and blunted the news by doing this:

Sept 12 (Reuters) - Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants Inc on Friday reported a quarterly loss, but its results were overshadowed by activist investor Starboard Value LP's release of its revised plan to boost Darden's profit and stock price.Starboard, one of Darden's largest investors with an 8.8 percent stake, late on Thursday unveiled a 294-slide proposal that included plans to sell Darden's real estate, franchise its restaurants, spin off The Capital Grille, Yard House and other chains and fix the flagship Olive Garden chain.Starboard, which also is seeking to replace Darden's entire 12-member board, said it has identified up to $326 million in cost savings. It believes its strategy could make Darden's stock worth as much as $86 per share, even before it got to work on fixing Olive Garden or selling restaurants to franchisees.Darden shares fell about 1.9 percent to $47.36 in midday trading. The stock has lost more than 12 percent of its value this year.

Darden reported a net loss of $19.3 million, or 14 cents per share, from continuing operations for its first quarter ended Aug. 24. It said quarterly sales at Olive Garden restaurants open at least 16 months fell 1.3 percent. Olive Garden accounts for more than half of Darden's overall revenue and about two-thirds of its profit. Key same-restaurant sales have been down for five straight quarters as it struggled to lure diners amid robust competition.

Starboard launched a fight to take over Darden's board in May, saying the then-pending sale of Darden's Red Lobster seafood restaurant chain was a "destructive transaction" that ignored the rights of shareholders. On July 28, the restaurant operator closed its $2.1 billion sale of Red Lobster without granting shareholders their requested say on the matter. It also announced the year-end departure of Chief Executive Officer Clarence Otis.

That move was the first of several concessions Darden has made to activists, which also include Barington Capital Group.In its latest move, Darden said it would give four board seats to Starboard nominees.Analysts are divided on whether the move would satisfy Starboard and prevent it from seizing board control.

In its presentation, Starboard outlined ways to cut executive costs and simplify everything from purchasing to menus. It specifically plans to boost Olive Garden's alcohol sales, to use technology to eliminate "false waits" for tables at Olive Garden and to roll out more cost-effective digital marketing.

The hedge fund's recipe for fixing Olive Garden also includes better treatment of the chain's pasta, which Starboard called poorly handled and generally overcooked.

"Shockingly, Olive Garden no longer salts the water it uses to boil the pasta, merely to get a longer warranty on its pots" Starboard said.But Olive Garden's "Never Ending Pasta Pass" promotion, which allows consumption of an unlimited amount of pasta, salad, bread and Coca-Cola drinks for seven weeks, appears to have been a success. It sold out quickly on Monday.

Dri's Starboard investor is fighting and screaming like hell to stop the devaluation of this stock and is poured a lot of investment and is spending time with DRI to prop it up. He also timed this news release to blunt the downward force of the poor results. At least we didnt lose money, but you cant see stuff like this coming. This is a direct reason why I dont pick winners 100% of the time. Sometimes there is just an outside force that is outside of my control. Well, back to the earnings board to find another stock to contrarian play. Stay tuned.