CNBC's Mike Santoli points out in his exclusive column for CNBC PRO that M&A activity has been pretty quiet for such a mature bull market. That's about to change, Mike argues, citing swelling CEO confidence, still-cheap debt and possible cash repatriation.
So how can you play it?
Like Mike, Morgan Stanley is expecting a similar pickup in M&A and updated its so-called ALERT screen for clients on Monday. (ALERT stands for Acquisition Likelihood Estimate Ranking Tool.)
"The fraction of the largest 1000 stocks receiving tender offers in the prior 12 months declined from 5.1% in June 2016 to 3.9% in December 2016, but this rate is still above the post-1983 median of 3.0%," stated the note.
The investment bank notes that 3.5 percent of all retail stocks in its universe received an offer in the last 12 months, the biggest percentage in almost 10 years.
So the list of possible takeovers is dominated by consumer shares, along with health care and technology stocks.
Here are 10 of the names that made the list:
