March Madness bracket obsession actually moves stock prices

NEW YORK -- Basketball courts aren't the only place for action when the NCAA championships begin later month. Buffalo Wild Wings and Domino's Pizza are among companies that could ride the fan frenzy that accompanies this annual three-week spring sports obsession.

Shares of Buffalo Wild Wings have outpaced the Standard & Poor's 500 Index by an average of 5.8 percentage points each March in the past 10 years. The Minneapolis-based chain, which has a sponsorship partner

ship with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, led the broader market by almost 2 percentage points last March.

That's helped make this "standout stock" a tournament powerhouse, said Chris Bertelsen, chief investment officer of Global Financial Private Capital, a Sarasota, Florida-based wealth manager with $4.5 billion in assets.

Buffalo Wild Wings is "poised for continued growth" heading into an historically "dynamite" period and on the heels of a 2 percentage point outperformance year-to-date, he said, adding that his company has owned the stock for about two years.

The sports-themed restaurants are buoyed by "great momentum going into the tournament" Chief Executive Officer Sally Smith said in a telephone interview. The company has its own goal: to beat last year's chicken wings sales of about 94 million during March Madness. Even after a 3 percent menu price increase in November, same-restaurant sales are up year-to-date and managers will keep daily tabs on traffic and sales trends throughout the three-week event, she added.

This story was originally published March 7, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "March Madness bracket obsession actually moves stock prices ."