MINNEAPOLIS The Cleveland Cavaliers' advancement in the pro-basketball playoffs will raise comparable sales for the Buffalo Wild Wings chain by a full percentage point, financial analyst Eric Wold told investors this week.
Wold, the restaurant analyst for the San Francisco-based Merriman Curhan Ford brokerage, explained that 20 percent of the wings chain's units are located in the Cav's home state. "We would expect the restaurants to continue to benefit from increased home-town traffic throughout the rest of the [second] quarter," Wold wrote. He reforecast a 12-percent same-store sales gain for company units, up from his earlier projection of 11 percent, and raised his outlook for franchised stores to 6.5 percent, from 5.5 percent.
Wold noted that the Cavs' defeat of the Detroit Pistons on Saturday guaranteed the team would play at least four games against its opponent in the NBA finals, the San Antonio Spurs. And the best-of-seven series could go the distance, he said.