Karcher Stock Up After TV Report

The stock price of Carl Karcher Enterprises Inc. leaped this week after a televised report about possible suitors for the parent company of the Carl’s Jr. hamburger chain.

Stock market columnist Dan Dorfman reported on his cable-TV show Thursday that Wendy’s, Hardee’s and PepsiCo, which operates the Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken chains, might be interested in buying Karcher Enterprises. Dorfman also reported that founder Karcher, 75, has been talking with Freeman Spogli & Co., a private merchant bank in Los Angeles, about a leveraged buyout that would make the company private again.

After the report was aired, trading in Karcher’s stock picked up. It closed Thursday at $10.75, up 75 cents, and at $10.88 on Friday--a 1992 high.

Both Karcher and his company’s chief financial officer, Loren Pannier, have declined to discuss any issues related to a buyout. The only information was a brief statement last month confirming that Karcher was in discussion with an investment group regarding sale of the company.

Karcher said at that time, however, that the group would have little interest in the company if the price was more than $10 a share.