Cramer: Wind Power in the M&A Spotlight

Xantrex gets a bid! Here's a Canadian wind play that just got bought by France's Schneider Electric. It has a sizable business in converting wind power into power than can be used on the grid, one of the stickier issues that has confounded the wind industry.

The deal is small, $500 million-- but it is significant because the wind plays that matter are being snapped up left and right. Plus, the 55% premium is HUGE!

I sense that everything from the wind power division of Otter Tail (OTTR Quote) to Broadwind Energy could be vulnerable to takeovers. I own Trinity (TRN Quote) because I believe that inside of Trinity is a dynamic wind business with a huge wind backlog.

Quanta Services (PWR Quote) is another profitable wind play with billions of orders to build wind farms coming its way. This one's an obvious one.

Woodward Governor (WGOV Quote) has a solid wind business, but it isn't highlighted or even known. There were no questions about its wind turbine business on the call last week despite blow-out numbers that I am sure came, in part, from wind, although management specifically mentioned wind in its press release.

Timken (TKR Quote), another upside surpriser last week, has a ton of ball bearing-related wind business. Thomas & Betts (TNB Quote)does too, but nobody's talking about it.

This wind story is a 2009 story in terms of earnings, but it is a takeover and consolidation story right now. Very exciting.

Random musings: I see huge growth in Verizon Wireless and good growth in Fios, which is aimed at Time Warner (TWX Quote), Comcast (CMCSA Quote)and Cablevision (CVC Quote). Kraft Foods (KFT Quote) took a lot of pricing this quarter and that helped immensely.