Interesting. "We see companies that we jokingly refer to as 'having the right postal code,'" said Les Stelmach, a portfolio manager with Franklin Bissett Investment Management.
"Their land position is very good, within a very active part of the WesternCanadianSedimentaryBasin, and they could probably do a certain amount of development on their own, but the pace of that could be vastly accelerated in the hands of someone else," he said.
He pointed to companies operating in Western Canada's premier shale fields, where the fracturing technology that has revolutionized U.S. oil and gas production has also uncovered huge reserves.
In Canada, such fields include Montney region that runs from western Alberta and northeastern British Columbia, and Alberta's burgeoning Duvernay field.
Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd., which holds nearly 120,000 acres of properties in the Montney region, has roughly doubled its stock price since the start of the year. Gas producer Birchcliff Energy Ltd.'s stock is up 94 per cent over the same period and Crew Energy Inc. has gained 73 per cent since the end of 2013.
Some analysts think the rise in stock prices has more to do with strong commodities than potential takeovers, and that potential acquirers might wait.
"[Commodity] prices have been moving up, especially with what's been going on in the Middle East," said David McColl, an analyst with Morningstar. "I think [buyers] would rather strike in a softer climate than right now."
Still, some see the return of U.S. companies that abandoned much of their Canadian investments over the past few years as oil and gas prices softened. The new lures are massive reserves of Canadian shale fields and the potential demand boost offered by liquefied natural-gas (LNG) projects.