24/7 Wall St.

Just one week ago Good Times Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ: GTIM) stock was available for about $1.50/share. Today the share posted a new 52-week high of $5.98 on no news. In fact the last news about the company came out last week, when it hired a consultant to help it find a “strategic transaction.” The company said at the time that one option might be more acquisitions, but the investors who are driving up the share price are clearly thinking buyout.

Good Times has a market cap of less than $13 million, even at today’s nosebleed prices. It is competing for dining out dollars with behemoths like McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), and current darling Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG). Even mid-size eateries like Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) and Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC) dwarf Good Times and its 45 locations, all but 4 of which are in Colorado.

In its latest annual report, Good Times noted that it sold one of its stores in exchange for modifications to its credit agreement. The company went through a 1-for-3 stock split in December 2010 and closed 3 more stores in 2011 in addition to the one it sold.

Good Times might be a fine place to eat, but a fine place to invest? Without the 4x bump in share price over the last week, the entire enterprise would be worth about $3 million.

With just over an hour to go in today’s trading session, Good Times shares are up 66.9% at $4.69 after posting a new intra-day high of $5.98. The 52-week low is $0.71. Remember that last figure.

Paul Ausick