The restaurant stocks that are killing it in this market have one thing in common

Howard Schultz, former chief executive officer of Starbucks Corp., drinks from a Starbucks mug during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

When a company performs well and I interview its CEO on CNBC, I consider the stock's performance before fashioning my questions. When a chief executive is hitting it out of the park, the interview is going to be easy. My main objective is to find out if the great numbers are sustainable. Is there something special about the business model or the product? Maybe the company had been poorly run and the guest is a new CEO who is turning it around. Maybe the company offers something truly different that makes it stand out. Or maybe he or she is just lucky.