Wendy’s may have just discovered the best thing since sliced bread.
The fast-food chain’s pretzel bacon cheeseburger, rolled out last month, has been such a hit with US customers that same-store sales in the current quarter could hit a nine-year high, one Wall street analyst predicted.
Mark Kalinowski of Janney Capital Market called the burger “Wendy’s best new-product introduction in the last 10 years” — since the chain rolled out high-end salads in 2002.
In a report this week, Kalinowski, citing “channel checks,” forecast same-store sales in the third quarter would hit 5.5 percent.
That would be quite an improvement over the same-store percentage gains of 0.4, 1.0, -0.2 and 2.7 in the last four quarters.
The bullish report helped send shares of the Nelson Peltz-controlled chain up 5 percent yesterday to $7.80, a 52-week high.
So far this year, Wendy’s has been the brightest performer in the cut-throat fast-food sector. Its shares, up 42 percent, have outperformed rivals McDonald’s and Yum Brands, whose stocks are up 4.5 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively.
Since 2004, Wendy’s has only seen one quarterly rise of more than 5 percent with the introduction of its Hot ’n Juicy burgers, which sparked a 5.1 percent rise in same-store sales at the end of 2011.
Kalinowski thinks the pretzel burger could prove an even bigger hit due to its potential to be used in other sandwich lines, like chicken, “for years to come,” the analyst told The Post.
The success of the pretzel bacon cheeseburger — which features a soft, pretzel-like bun — is more like Wendy’s’ rollout of high-end salads in 2002, the analyst said. The salads brought in increased traffic and produced same-store sales increases of 5 percent or higher for three out of four quarters in 2002.
Peltz, chairman of the chain, is also the biggest shareholder. His Trian Fund Management holds 21 percent of the stock. Peltz personally has a stake of 4 percent.
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