Takeover candidates 2025: Plug Power, Evotec, Desert Gold

Desert Gold: Hot takeover candidate on the way to a 2 million ounce resource

In the gold sector, Desert Gold is a hot takeover candidate for 2025. The stable share price also points to this. While most producers and explorers fell significantly with the consolidation of the gold price, the Canadians are trading at CAD 0.06. There are good reasons for this. Before we give the details, here is an analyst opinion. The experts at German GBC Research recommend the Desert Gold share as a "Buy", with a price target of CAD 0.425. The target price is based on a gold price of around USD 2,300 – at the moment, a little over USD 2,600 is being paid for an ounce. Click here for the full research.

What is the source of the analysts' optimism? Desert Gold has already demonstrated a resource of 1.1 million ounces across its 440 km2 site in West Africa. With a modest market capitalization of just CAD 13 million, each ounce of gold is valued at just over CAD 10. The gold can be mined cost-effectively in open-pit mines. While the PEA is currently being prepared, production is expected to start in the second half of 2025 in two open-pit mines with a total of approximately 200,000 ounces. With heap leaching extraction, the cost per ounce of gold is projected to range from USD 800 to 1,300, which makes the project economically attractive.

Desert Gold is also focused on expanding its resource base. Recently, further promising drilling results were published. This puts the Company on track to reaching a 2 million-ounce exploration target soon. With such a resource and the start of production, a takeover or the entry of a strategic partner should be very likely in 2025. This is particularly true given the proximity of major gold companies like B2Gold, Barrick Gold, and Endeavour Mining, which are already active in the region.

Evotec: Hot stock in the biotech sector?

In the biotech sector, Evotec is being considered as a potential takeover candidate for 2025. This is especially relevant as there was already an attempt by Halozyme earlier this year, which can be described as amateurish and was called off after being rejected by Evotec's management.

Financial investor Triton is likely to play a more important role in a takeover. After all, it acquired a roughly 10% stake in Evotec this year, making it the largest shareholder. However, this also shows how widely the shares of the biotech company are spread. This makes a takeover more difficult, as negotiations cannot be held with just a few major shareholders.

However, the question also arises as to where the share price stands if a takeover attempt starts. If Evotec's shares initially fall to EUR 4 - where Deutsche Bank currently sees the fair value - the takeover price would hardly exceed EUR 10. This means that a takeover is not currently a good bet. However, there are also more optimistic analysts. For example, the experts at Warburg Research consider Evotec shares to be one of the 'Best Ideas 2025', even without a takeover. Their price target is EUR 14.

Plug Power: Takeover or price collapse?

Will there also be takeovers in the hydrogen sector in 2025? For shareholders of Nel and Plug Power, this may be the last resort because the two former investor darlings have not yet been able to establish profitable business models – despite billions in sales. Little support is likely to come from politicians in the coming year, either. With Donald Trump as president in the US, it is to be expected that funding will be more or less discontinued. Incidentally, Plug shareholders should pay attention to whether the promised subsidies will flow by the inauguration in January. If not, there is a risk of a sharp drop in the share price and, in the worst case, insolvency.

However, Europe is also putting the brakes on hydrogen funding. In Germany, for example, the Ministry of Economics recently announced that a planned financing of EUR 350 million for hydrogen projects will not materialize. The reason given was the disagreement between the European Commission and the German government. It is not known whether Nel or Plug Power have applied for funding from this pool, but it shows that the industry currently seems to be making no headway. At the same time, the importance of hydrogen for the energy mix of the future is repeatedly emphasized worldwide.

Plug Power and Nel are not currently suitable candidates for takeover speculation. The operating problems are significant and the industry is facing another challenging year. By contrast, the Desert Gold stock is enticing for an investment. Gold production is scheduled to start next year, and the resource has increased to 2 million ounces, and financially sound companies are located in the neighbourhood. This mix suggests that the stock price will rise significantly and provides downside protection. The Evotec share is facing an exciting year. How quickly will the reorientation be achieved? Are there still skeletons in the closet that need to be written off? Are Deutsche Bank or Warburg right, or is the truth somewhere in the middle, and will the share price initially tread water?