Gehl Company (GEHL) Stock Surges 115% on Acquisition News

Gehl Company (GEHL), the Wisconsin based earth-moving and construction equipment manufacturer and distributor has been acquired by the French firm Manitou.

The offer consideration, to be fully paid in cash, values Gehl at $30 per share, representing a 120% premium over Gehl’s closing price on the last trading day prior to this announcement, and a premium of 92% above the average closing price of Gehl’s shares over the last six months.

That’s huge. Gehl’s stock saw a real surge of 115% today. That’s great for them, but could we have spotted it beforehand?

Well, you can never really spot a buyout like this, but the quality of the company was apparent.

Gehl was trading as a huge discount recently. They had a very low P/E ratio compared with the rest of the industry, very little long-term debt, steady growth, and good returns. They were a solid micro cap company with hardly any attention, and that paid off for them. Manitou realized they were too cheap to pass up, and they snatched them up. Investors are happy. Manitou is happy. And the managing team at Gehl is happy since they’ll probably stay in place.
Good Times all around.