BJ's Wholesale club (BJ - option chain) shares rose Tuesday on news that private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners has signed a confidentiality agreement with BJ's to discuss a possible buyout. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BJ.

The stock opened Tuesday morning at $48.20. In morning trading, the stock hit a low of $47.14 and a high of $48.73. As of 12:15, BJ was trading at $48.55 up 2.03 (4.4%). The chart for BJ looks bullish and S&P gives BJ a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Option volume has ramped up today on KeyCorp (KEY), with activity rising well beyond the usual level on both the call and put side of the tape. Taking a closer look at some of the major block trades on this regional banking issue, it appears that a single spread strategist is responsible for a healthy portion of this option volume.

Specifically, the trader purchased a block of 10,000 June 10 calls for $0.50 each, and simultaneously sold 10,000 June 8 puts for $0.25 each. The result was a net debit of $0.25 per pair of contracts -- which means the speculator can begin collecting profits on those purchased calls if KEY rallies beyond $10.25 by June expiration.

Shares of Anadarko Petroleum (APC) gapped higher right out of the gate Thursday morning, thanks to a report that BHP Billiton (BHP) may be eyeing the firm as a potential takeover target. According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, BHP could be prepping an offer worth $90 per share to acquire Anadarko. However, neither company has issued a formal response to the speculation.

After jumping to a new annual high of $76.50 bright and early Thursday morning, APC is on pace to notch a weekly finish atop the $70 level for the first time since April 23. In fact, if the shares can maintain their positive momentum through Friday's close, the shares could stage their first weekly victory north of $75 since June 2008.

Aéropostale (ARO - option chain) shares are rising today on reports that the company has hired Barclays Capital as a strategic advisor to help ARO thwart potential private-equity buyers. According to the New York Post, which reported the move, ARO management wishes the company to remain public. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on ARO.

ARO opened this morning at $24.57. So far today the stock has hit a low of $24.46 and a high of $25.26. As of 12:05, ARO is trading at $25.05 up $1.48 (6.3%). The chart for ARO looks bearish and S&P gives ARO a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

J. Crew Group (JCG) was nearly 17% higher Tuesday morning thanks to rumors of a potential buyout.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that a pair of private equity firms are closing in on a deal to purchase J. Crew for $43.50 per share cash, or $3 billion. One of the potential new owners is TPG Capital, a former owner of the company. TPG would hold a 75% stake in the company, with LA-based Leonard Green & Partners owning the remaining 25%. TPG previously owned an 88% stake in JCG in 1997.

EMC (EMC - option chain) shares are rising today as rumors are swirling that Oracle (ORCL) might be interested in buying EMC. This speculation pushed EMC higher by as much as 6% earlier this morning, but the stock's price has settled down some now. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on EMC.

EMC opened this morning at $20.94. So far today the stock has hit a low of $20.75 and a high of $21.58. As of 12:25, EMC is trading at $21.06 up 0.76 (3.7%). The chart for EMC looks bullish and S&P gives EMC a positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy ranking.

Early Monday morning, trading was halted on Gymboree (GYMB) after an announcement that Bain Capital Partners would acquire the children's clothing company. Reportedly, the definitive agreement calls for Bain to pay $65.40 per share for Gymboree, or $1.8 billion.

According to the terms of the agreement, Gymboree stockholders will receive $65.40 cash for each outstanding share of Gymboree common stock owned. This price is a 57.4% premium to Gymboree's share price on September 30, 2010 -- the date that takeover rumors began. And the $65.40 is a 23.5% premium over Friday's closing price of $52.95.

Canadian fertilizer firm Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (POT) is in the middle of a rash of takeover-related news this morning. First, Britain's Sunday Telegraph reports that Potash is working on a break-up plan in hopes of stopping BHP Billiton's (BHP) takeover bid. According to the report, Potash would sell its nitrogen and phosphorous assets, pay a $70 per share dividend, and increase its debt pile.

In addition to the weekend's news, The Globe and Mail reported Friday that Chinese firm Sinochem has approached the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) about a joint bid for Potash. Sinochem is making the pitch for a joint bid because it may believe that an individual bid would be shot down by Canada's political powers.

Just when the American consumer is about to throw in the proverbial towel on the economic recovery, Dell Inc. (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) erupt into a classic black-heart-of-capitalism, knock down, drag out, donnybrook of a bidding war over data warehousing upstart 3PAR, Inc. (PAR), a Silicon Valley-based company that is an early entrant in the much-ballyhooed cloud computing, virtualization, optimization revolution. Damn the consumer, business is business!

So in the wake of the 3PAR bidding war, which tech stocks are on the auction block as the next buyout targets?

Over the weekend, French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) made its attempt to take over biotech firm Genzyme (GENZ) official. SNY offered $69 per GENZ share, which is slightly more than a dollar higher over GENZ's Friday close. The total value of the offer comes to $18.5 billion.

Although the offer isn't much more than Friday's close, it is 38% higher than GENZ's July 1 close. This is when speculation cropped up about a potential buyout offer from SNY. GENZ turned down the offer, noting that SNY was undervaluing the company.

Bit of a surprise in the tech sector Thursday morning, as Intel (INTC) announced that it will purchase Internet-security firm McAfee (MFE) for the tidy sum of $7.68 billion.

This move comes as a bit of a surprise, as some analysts and investors believe the acquisition shows the importance that computing firms are applying to security. Intel noted that more "elements of our lives have moved online," meaning that security will become a "third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences." Intel said that the deal "elevates focus on security on par with energy-efficient performance and connectivity." Bottom line: Intel wants to protect customers who are taking advantage of our new online lifestyle.

With no end in sight to the undersea oil gusher in the gulf and mounting

clean-up costs, investors have started to take a hard look at the reality of the disaster's impact on BP (BP). The company has shed more than $70 billion in value since April 20 when an explosion on one of its oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico sparked the worst crude oil disaster in U.S. history.

Some say that things could get even worse as the blowout on the ocean floor continues to wreak havoc and the price tag continues to mount. But many others say the sell-off is overdone, and that investors would be wise to buy shares at what could be bargain valuations.

Several takeover rumors cropped up this morning. One of those is that RadioShack (RSH) is in the sights of many possible suitors. Those suitors include Blackstone Group (BX), Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital, TPG, and potentially Best Buy (BBY).

These rumors had the shares trading higher this morning, which is really a continuation of RSH's longer-term trend. Since March 2009, RSH has trekked steadily higher, overtaking the 10-month moving average in the process. That said, the stock is stuck just below the $23 level.

There's been a lot of chatter lately about a potential buyout for Palm Inc. (PALM), with various reports pointing to HTC and Lenovo as possible suitors for the parent of the Pre and Pixi smartphones. However, one long-term option trader on Monday placed a confident bet against a white-knight bid for PALM by opening a sizable, out-of-the-money put position on the equity.

Around midday Monday, a block of 6,500 contracts slipped across the tape on PALM's January 2011 2.50 put, which is currently out of the money by about three points. These puts changed hands at the ask price of $0.25, suggesting they were purchased.

If you're looking to buy into an upswing post-recession, it doesn't look like the private equity market will be on your list. Valuations didn't fall as much as you might think, meaning that the bargains you usually find during a downturn just aren't showing up this time.

In the leveraged buyout market, prices were around 25% higher, on average, than they were in 2001, when the dotcom economy fell apart, according to Standard & Poor's Leveraged Commentary & Data. And transactions closed in the past three months have hit heir highest levels since the private equity market peaked in 2007.

Says Christopher O'Brien, president for U.S. and Europe of Investcorp Bank BSC, another "golden era" isn't coming. He tells Bloomberg News, "There's a lot of pressure to put investors' money to work now, and valuations are still high. It's a seller's market."