Five Debt-Free Investing Opportunities

This column was originally published on RealMoney on May 30 at 2:04 p.m. EDT. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers. For more information about subscribing to RealMoney, please click here.

Some of my recent columns have been about industries, such as information technology, which have attracted the interest of merger and acquisition mavens. M&A activity is reaching a fever pitch. I do not try to predict which companies might be acquirers or acquisition targets.

However, I do believe that a company that is financially strong and has a reasonably priced stock -- plus, could be involved in M&A activity -- is a company that should be on everyone's short list of stocks to buy.

Acquisitions often involve the acquirer taking on additional debt; it borrows to pay the sellers. That means companies with little or no debt are more desirable acquisition targets than ones already carrying a heavy debt load. If two companies marry, and one has little debt, the new combination can handle additional debt more easily than if both already have a heavy debt load. ...