There’s more to life than Forex …

  • 44 large cap companies have a high likelihood of receiving at least one tender offer over the next 12 months, according to a screen by Morgan Stanley

The firm used several factors in the screen:

  • Dividend yield: Lower yields imply higher offer probabilities.
  • Price-to-book ratio: Cheaper stocks have a higher offer likelihood.
  • Debt-to-asset ratio: Higher leverage means an offer is more likely.
  • Market cap rank: Smaller caps have higher offer probabilities, mega-caps, less likely.
  • Sector: Healthcare companies are more attractive targets than industrials.
  • Liquidity: High trading volume relative to market cap (market caps over $2 billion with average daily trading volumes of $1.6 billion over the past 90 days). Morgan Stanley said the inclusion of this factor boosted the presence of technology stocks on the list. Indeed, recent reports have forecast that 2014 will be a big year for tech acquisitions.

Energy

  • Newfield Exploration Co. NFX
  • Sandridge Energy Inc. SD
  • Tidewater Inc. TDW

Materials

  • Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. CLF
  • Axiall Corp. AXLL
  • Domtar Corp. UFS
  • Royal Gold Inc. RGLD

Consumer Discretionary

  • Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. SBGI
  • Wendy’s Co. WEN
  • Tempur Sealy International Inc. TPX
  • Brinker International Inc. EAT
  • Bally Technologies Inc. BYI
  • DreamWorks Animation Inc. DWA
  • J.C. Penney Co. JCP
  • American Eagle Outfitters Inc. AEO

Consumer Staples

  • Ingredion Inc. INGR
  • Hain Celestial Group Inc. HAIN
  • Hillshire Brands Co. HSH
  • Whitewave Food Co. WWAV

Health Care

  • Celgene Corp. CELG
  • Express Scripts Holding Co. ESRX
  • WellPoint Inc. WLP
  • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. REGN
  • Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. ALXN
  • Aetna Inc. AET
  • Cigna Corp. CI
  • Becton Dickinson & Co. BDX
  • Cerner Corp. CERN

Financials

  • Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. NSM

Tech

  • Brocade Communications Systems Inc. BRCD
  • On Semiconductor Corp. ONNN
  • Tibco Software Inc. TIBX
  • SunPower Corp. SPWR
  • Ingram Micro Inc. IM
  • Jabil Circuit Inc. JBL
  • SunEdison Inc. SUNE
  • Teradyne Inc. TER
  • Arris Group Inc. ARRS
  • NeuStar Inc. NSR

Telecom

  • Crown Castle International Corp. CCI
  • SBA Communications Corp. SBAC
  • Level 3 Communications Inc. LVLT
  • Windstream Holdings Inc. WIN
  • Frontier Communications Corp. FTR