UPDATE 2-McDonald's US sales tick up in Feb-analyst survey

(Adds McDonald's comment)

CHICAGO, March 7 (Reuters) - Sales in February at 214 McDonald's Corp (MCD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) U.S. restaurants opened at least 13 months rose 4.3 percent on average, based on a restaurant analyst's survey of 33 franchisees released on Friday.

Excluding the extra day in February due to leap year, same- store sales would have been up about 0.5 percent to 1 percent, said restaurant stock analyst Mark Kalinowski.

The franchisees surveyed represent a small portion of the the company's roughly 14,000 U.S. restaurants.

Kalinowski said the 4.3 percent figure does not represent an actual estimate of same-store sales.

In 30 previous sales surveys conducted by Kalinowski, the same-store sales came within 1 percentage point of the actual figure on 21 occasions, he said.

McDonald's shares have reacted to the survey in the past. In January, the stock tumbled when Kalinowski's survey showed increases of U.S. same-store sales at their worst level in the six-year history of the survey.

Actual U.S. same-store sales were flat in December, the company later reported.

In response to the latest survey findings, McDonald's spokeswoman Heidi Barker said: "We do not comment on rumors or speculation. As planned, we will release actual sales results on Monday." (Reporting by Brad Dorfman and Lisa Baertlein; editing by Gunna Dickson/Andre Grenon)