When I started Total Wealth I promised you three things: I'd do my best to help you identify (a) where the world's big money is moving, (b) which companies are best positioned to profit, and (c) what specific steps you can take to "get your money there first."
Today I'm going to keep that promise by showing you a simple yet potentially very profitable way to identify the next merger and acquisition candidate in any industry before it's announced. Obviously no method is foolproof, but all you have to be is "close enough" in this business when money's on the move.
It's Tuesday morning as I write and I'm looking at headlines related to two of the biggest pharma mergers announced this year. Frankly, I'm drooling in light of what I've just told you… at least mentally anyway.
Let me tell you why.
News broke Monday that Celgene Corp. (Nasdaq: CELG) is buying Juno Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: JUNO) for $9 billion, and Sanofi SA (NYSE: SNY) is buying Bioverativ Inc. (Nasdaq: BIVV) for $11.6 billion. Between the two companies, that's a staggering $20.6 billion on the move in a sector projected to hit $1.2 trillion – with a "T" – by 2022.
But as great as that sounds, it's not why I'm writing today.
Anybody who's trying to profit from what was just announced has already missed the train. They're going to have to play catch-up.
My goal is to show you how to identify and profit from what happens next by getting your money there first and ahead of the next major news blast.
Here's the thing…
What most investors fail to realize is that deals like the two I've just mentioned have implications far beyond current headlines. Which means, in turn, that there's huge profit potential waiting in the wings if you know what to look for.
Mergers and acquisitions, you see, rarely happen in isolation. Instead, they produce clusters of activity as other industry players jockey for position and are forced to make acquisitions of their own to "keep up."
For example, U.S. Airways touched off a string of mergers in the airline industry back in 2005 that consolidated nine of the largest airline companies into just four… for the simple reason that fleet size, routing, and the number of landing slots determines who's king of the proverbial mountain – or the runway as the case may be.
It's the same thing in the energy business. Starting in 2015, there have been a string of mergers with stronger players gobbling up weaker players in a bid to consolidate their leadership and profitability. Examples include Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (NYSE ADR: RDS.A) buying out BG Group, and Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB) acquiring Spectra Energy – which were together worth a staggering $98 billion.
Today it's pharma, where new pipelines, new drugs, and new products are critical to future cash flow. Celgene is buying Juno to compete in the oncology space against Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) and Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD). Sanofi is buying Bioverativ to compete against Bayer AG (OTCMKTS ADR: BAYRY) and Nova Nordisk A/S (NYSE ADR: NVO) in the hemophilia space.
Other deals will follow, and that's what makes situations like this one so appealing – you will not run out of opportunities any time soon.
Long-established companies, like Celgene and Sanofi, are under tremendous pressure to replace aging treatments on a downward revenue trajectory with high-value replacement therapies worth billions of dollars. That means they have to keep buying – like a rat on a treadmill has to keep running.
To a savvy investor or trader, this is a lot like going fishing and knowing exactly where the fish are biting. Or, playing poker and knowing which players at the table have to make a move. It's information that dramatically boosts your odds of success – not to mention your profit potential, too.
Most investors, of course, will never make the connection. That's bad for them but great for you because it means you've got a tightly defined window of opportunity to buy shares before the herd arrives and jacks the price up.
Here's a simple three-step trade setup you can use to play the situation.
While there's a lot to like, I am particularly partial to the fact that the method I'm going to share with you is easy to understand and even easier to implement. What's more, you can use it in any industry where mergers and acquisition headlines heat up.
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About the Author
Keith Fitz-Gerald has been the Chief Investment Strategist for the Money Morning team since 2007. He's a seasoned market analyst with decades of experience, and a highly accurate track record. Keith regularly travels the world in search of investment opportunities others don't yet see or understand. In addition to heading The Money Map Report, Keith runs High Velocity Profits, which aims to get in, target gains, and get out clean. In his weekly Total Wealth, Keith has broken down his 30-plus years of success into three parts: Trends, Risk Assessment, and Tactics – meaning the exact techniques for making money. Sign up is free at totalwealthresearch.com.
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