Can Turtles Fly?

Cabela's (CAB) is being bought out by Bass Pro Shops (private) in a cash deal and I took a position in Cabela's. Deal is expected to close by end of Q3. The spread is around 4% and my expected return (based on my probabilities and downside) is about 2%. Not that great but if the deal closes within 3 months, then return is ok. This deal is a bit risky since it is a buyout of a retailer that has seen declining revenue and profits in the last few quarters. The whole retail industry is getting clobbered--the street blames Amazon and emergence of online retailing but I think the core problem is a likely decline in consumer spending (consumers have too much debt and have been living outside their means for a decade or more and we may be seeing an adjustment--and Cabela's is no exception. It has been so bad that the buyout price was revised down--goes to show the risk in these arbitrage situations; good thing I didn't take a position earlier--so things are ...

I bought Monsanto (MON) as a risk arbitrage position a few days ago. Potential return is pretty good if you believe the risk is low (spread of about 9%, my expected return of around 7.7%). Deal expected to close by end of this year (maybe worst case Q1 2018). I find it really hard to invest in this environment. Everything just looks highly valued and there aren't too many areas that are beaten down or appears cheap. I have been researching some out-of-favour industries (like retail, radio broadcasting, oil & gas) but they are not good industries in the long run. I hope my impatience doesn't end up hurting me but I took a really large position in this deal. I was researching the position for almost an year when the merger spread was much higher (18% as recently as January of 2017). In fact, it looked like an attractive position ever since Berkshire Hathaway took a small position late last year (likely as a risk arbitrage position but with spreads likely more than 20% at ...