Bankers Eye Tech M&A Candidates

Techland M&A is hot, even though the megadeal storm sweeping corporate America may not last forever. (See related story.) As deals continue apace, analysts and arbitrageurs alike want to know which companies are up for grabs.

The Information’s first M&A “watch list” included cloud computing and ad-tech companies, which have products and services that older tech companies need. Those stocks have largely bounced back from this spring’s market rout, making them pricier to acquire.

Goldman Sachs has a watch list of its own: a basket of stocks that it calls the Goldman Sachs Strategic M&A Candidate Basket. (GSRHACQN for those of you who have a Bloomberg terminal.) This list of more than 130 stocks includes several tech companies, including one that we identified in May, Bazaarvoice.

Here are four public companies that, according to the bank’s calculations, have a 30% to 50% chance of being acquired. Some have strong revenue growth and low price-to-sales ratios, an attractive combination for potential buyers. Others are companies with good products that have stumbled.