Things are looking up for Unifab International Inc. and so is its stock.

On Monday, the stock price for the Iberia-based company closed at $10.02 a share. That's a 52-week high for a stock that normally trades for one or two dollars.

Unifab stock averages a daily trading volume of 13,000 shares, but on Monday they averaged three million. That means the shares traded hands about 250 times more than average.

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The stock prices rose and fell during the week, but on Friday the stock closed at $7 a share, well above its original value.

What caused the jump is anyone's guess, said Martin Bech, legal counsel for Unifab International located in the Port of Iberia.

"We have no explanation for the activity," Bech said.

"The company is not aware of any material undisclosed information about its historical performance or its future prospects that would cause the unusual trading activity that is now occurring," said Unifab Chief Financial Officer Peter Roman on Wednesday. "Further, the company is not aware of the existence of any rumors about the company that would cause the unusual trading activity that is now occurring."

Universal Fabricators Vice President of Project Management Jimmie Robinson said he doesn't know what's causing the stock jump, but said he hopes it's a sign of good things to come. Robinson, along with Unifab International Inc. President Larry Verzwyvelt, started at Unifab in September of 2003.

Robinson said the company was not doing as well then. They were behind on some of their jobs and needed some changes. Since then, they have plotted and graphed their projects' progress, which has helped them stay on schedule. He added that allowing the yard workers to take a larger part in planning and scheduling has helped them to gauge when they can complete a job.

Robinson said they have finished their current project to build 13 "buoyancy tanks" that are more than 250-feet long and 13-feet wide. They are components on deep sea oil production platforms. He said the first shipment of five leaves next week.

"It took a lot of hard work on everyone's part to make this happen on time," Robinson said.

The 150-acre facility employs some 300 employees from the south Louisiana area, most of them from New Iberia, Unifab's Safety and Environment Manager Alexander N. Zoulin said.

Robinson added that they are working to make sure future jobs are ready so that the employees stay.

"Right now we've been hustling to have something for them to move on to," Robinson said.

And with the planning they've been doing and the implemented changes, they are confident more jobs will be on the way. The one dark spot has been the price of steel.

"The price of steel is going out of sight," Robinson said. "It has gone up 20 percent in the last couple of months."

Future plans include a company Web site and the recycling of old platforms sitting in the yard, Robinson said.

As to talk of the stock jump, Robinson said he hopes it's because they are people who are working hard to put out a quality product.

"When you're doing all the right things, what do you want the stocks to do?" Robinson said.