Obviously VCLK is in the running. Valueclick handles every aspect of an online advertising campaign, from banner ads, to email marketing, to lead generation. Back in 2001 both VCLK and Doubleclick were both trading for less than the cash they had in the bank and they were even shorts at that point as they both continued to trade lower until 2003. Now they are the darlings of Wall Street and Valueclick is almost certainly next on the seller's block. Analysts expect earnings to be 81 cents per share this year, up from 62 cents in 2006, a 30% gain. With a forward P/E of 30, its not unreasonable at all and I can easily see it fetching $4bb from a company like MSFT, a 30% premium from where it is now. Two of my favorite mutual funds own VCLK: Al Frank Asset Management which tends to own companies trading below cash and then hold onto them until their intrinsic value is reached. Apparently they do not feel Valueclick's intrinsic value has been reached. They have had a 16% annual return since they opened in 1998. Click the above link to see Al Frank's top holdings. Oberweis Asset Management. Jim Oberweis is a columnist for Forbes and we follow his main picks that he discusses in his columns. VCLK is also on the list of Business 2.0's Fastest Growing Tech Companies.

Update: 5/18 - WPP agrees to buy TFSM for $650mm 247 Media, TFSM, is next in line after VCLK. TFSM competes with Doubleclick in the advertising space and was the number two player all through the nineties, right after Doubleclick and side by side with CMGI's Engage Technologies, which went out of business. TFSM survived, has $50mm cash in the bank and cash flows of $15mm and growing. Analysts are giving TFSM a forward P/E of 15. I can easily see it fetching up to $1bb in a sale (current market cap is $577mm) although more likely is the $700-800mm range. Interestingly, Stockpickr member , Sesha, has TFSM in his Speculative and Takeover Plays for 2007 list set up on January, 22, 2007. A list which also includes DNDN.

- rollup of online ad agencies - forward p/e of 14 next year. - could easily see AQNT buying them

update 5/18 - MSFT agrees to buy AQNT for $6bb - online ad agency. Combination , initially of digital agency Razorfish and Doubleclick competitor Avenue A. - MSFT will buy is my guess. - I think the high end online ad agencies like AQNT serve the role of dealing with the companies that want tailored ads and not just ads they buy in an auction. Clients like GM, PG, etc.

- largest email marketing company after they bought Yesmail - trades at just 8x cash flows. forward P/E of 12 - activists involved pushing for a sale

- part of every ad campaign is performance measurement. KEYN is the expert on this. - recetnly slipped into the loss box. But generated 11.8mm in cash flows. Has $100mm in the bank and $30mm worth of real estate.

- the company is going to put itself up for sale. - $400mm in net cash. - mobile advertising space

- key player in sophisticated analytics. Will be necessary as campaigns get more complex.