MORGAN STANLEY: These 15 large companies are most likely to get acquired within the next 12 months

Morgan Stanley has updated its screen of large companies that are most likely to be acquired within the next 12 months.

The firm finds that companies in the healthcare sector have the highest chances of receiving offers.

US companies, by and large, are still not trigger happy when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.

M&A offer intensity — or the number of propositions relative to the total number of public companies — has fluctuated around its historical median since the first quarter of 2017, according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley. The firm attributes the current malaise to uncertainty about the trade war, recession concerns, and higher interest rates.

There have been some recent exceptions, including the $89 billion tie-up between Celgene and Bristol-Myers Squibb earlier this year.

But the broader benign environment means that investors should be paying extra-close attention to any companies that dare to venture out into the dealmaking wild.

Thankfully, Morgan Stanley has done the heavy lifting and identified dozens of large, liquid companies that are most likely to receive offers for the all their business units in the next 12 months.

Their so-called Acquisition Likelihood Estimate Rankings Tool combines factors such as market cap, debt-to-assets, and dividend yield. Some factors are linked to entire sectors: Healthcare companies, for example, are more likely to get offers, while industrials are not as deal-friendly.

The list has been abridged to include no more than two of the largest companies in each sector.

摩根士丹利已更新其最有可能在未来12个月内收购的大公司的屏幕。 该公司发现医疗保健行业的公司获得报价的机会最高。访问Business Insider的主页以获取更多报道。美国公司总体上仍然不高兴根据摩根士丹利编制的数据，并购交易的强度 - 或相对于上市公司总数的命题数量 - 在2017年第一季度以来的历史中位数波动。该公司将当前的不适归因于贸易战，经济衰退担忧和更高利率的不确定性。 最近出现了一些例外情况，包括今年早些时候Celgene和百时美施贵宝之间的890亿美元合并。但更广泛的良性环境意味着投资者应该密切关注任何一个问题。那些敢于冒险进行交易的公司。 值得庆幸的是，摩根士丹利已经做了大量工作，并确定了数十家大型流动性公司，他们最有可能在未来12个月内收到所有业务部门的报价。他们所谓的收购可能性估计排名工具结合了市值，债务对资产和股息收益等因素。一些因素与整个行业有关：例如，医疗保健公司更有可能获得报价，而工业化则不利于交易。该清单已被删减，包括每个部门中不超过两家最大的公司。