Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. shares rose in premarket trading Friday following the bar and grill operator’s prediction that it will increase. The Minneapolis-based chain says its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled.
Raymond James & Associates analyst Bryan Elliott said Buffalo Wild Wings will perform better in the first quarter because it will run more advertising during the early rounds of the NCAA basketball championship tournament.
“This should help first quarter but increases the risk to sales later in the year,” he says. “Uncertainty about the duration of very high chicken wing prices also adds to uncertainty over that time.”
Same-store sales are declining, he says, with chicken prices and minimum wage increasing. Same-store sales are sales at locations open at least one year, an important indicator of retail activity.
Buffalo Wild Wing stock added $5, or 10 percent, at $54.98 in the premarket.