Though initial public offerings are heating up, 2024 has thus far been disappointing for investors looking for merger stocks to buy. The year’s first few months saw the iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) deals scuttled, dashing merger arbitrage investors’ hopes of a quick payday and all-but-guaranteed upside.

But don’t let a few big-name failures turn you away from merger stock-buying opportunities. While nothing in life is guaranteed, the first two merger stocks to buy on this list are all but done deals, expected to close within the next few months. While the third is a bit of a wildcard, its inherent nature also points to significant upside potential — no matter how the merger ultimately goes.

Agrify (AGFY)

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First up on this list of merger stocks to buy is a dual threat: a perfect merger arbitrage opportunity and a penny stock. Investors can easily accumulate a large position in Agrify Corp (NASDAQ:AGFY) before its imminent buyout by Nature’s Miracle (NASDAQ:NMHI). In this case, we’re looking at micro-cap stocks merging to create new synergies and, hopefully, begin trending upward toward small-cap status (Agrify’s current market cap is just $4.25 million; Nature’s Miracle is a hair under $22.5 million).

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Nature’s Miracle is a vertical farming stock. Agrify offers a range of products and services across the cannabis value chain, including facility design, training, project management and equipment sales that support the plant’s cultivation and processing cycle. The merger deal, priced at $6.35 million, is equivalent to $0.4185 per share of Agrify — a nearly 40% premium over today’s per-share pricing. Better yet, the merger makes sense and could be fruitful if you retain the converted stock post-merger.

Most notably, Nature’s Miracle is effectively buying access to Agrify’s AI-powered software and hardware cannabis-growing tech and integrating it within its product line. As cannabis rescheduling and similar early legalization efforts begin taking hold, this micro-cap merger could quickly become a big winner, considering each company is effectively agnostic as to which brands or companies end up the biggest distributors or sellers. The deal is expected to close before October.

Six Flags Entertainment (SIX)

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Six Flags Entertainment’s (NYSE:SIX) merger will likely close sooner than Agrify’s, with its buyout of Cedar Fair (NYSE:FUN) originally expected to close within 2024’s first six months. Astute readers know that May is the 5th month, and both companies affirmed that the deal is still on track in their first-quarter earnings reports — so there’s little chance the merger will take more than 45 days or so from this point forward, and hopefully a bit sooner.