When there is a significant downturn for a sector, like the one that gold has experienced, most leading companies use the same old tried and true methods that business has used for decades: lower costs, slow down capital expenditures and most importantly consolidate. In the gold sector, there is a good chance that consolidation could be sooner rather than later.

A new research report from Cowen suggests that some of the senior miners are looking to make acquisitions now and will make the play to acquire some of the undervalued developers. The analysts at Cowen highlight two companies well positioned to acquire, and four more that could be likely targets.

There is, of course, absolutely no assurance that any of these stocks will be acquired. However, the larger companies with scale and resources could definitely take a run at them, especially the “penny stocks” as they would require less capital to purchase.

Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) is one of the miners that Cowen believes has the ability to make an acquisition to refill its longer-term project pipeline. The company operates as a gold producer involved in the exploration, development and acquisition of metal properties in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central and South America.

Over the past years, Goldcorp has been altering its mine plans, cutting spending and disposing of assets in order to reduce costs and focus on the most profitable production. Now those efforts have begun paying off. Investors are paid a 2.2% dividend. The Thomson/First Call price target for the stock is $31.14. Shares close Tuesday at $28.18.

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Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY) is another company that the Cowen team sees in a good position to make an acquisition. The company has been known to use extremely conservative assumptions in declaring its reserves, and as a result, it downgraded very few ounces last year. In fact, Yamana’s reserves were essentially flat year-over-year. Furthermore, the company’s resources — a category of in-ground gold that is less restrictive — grew meaningfully year-over-year. Investors are paid a 1.7% dividend. The consensus price target for the stock is posted at $10.74. Yamana closed Tuesday at $8.41.

Cowen identifies four stocks as possible acquisition targets. They provide the greatest combination of optionality for senior mining companies looking to refill their pipelines with valuations that are still attractive despite having made project advancements.

It is important to remember that two of these stocks are true “penny stocks” and they could just as easily not be bought, or have issues that could seriously damage them as ongoing entities. One stock has a sky-high target at Cowen that seems incredible, but there is some justification. Only investors with very aggressive risk profile should consider buying these stocks as possible takeover targets.

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Gold Standard Ventures Corp. (NYSEMKT: GSV) is an advanced-stage gold exploration company focused on district scale discoveries in Nevada. The company’s flagship project, the Railroad-Pinion Gold Project, is located within the prolific Carlin Trend. The recent Pinion gold deposit acquisition offers Gold Standard a potential near-term development option and further consolidates the company’s premier land package in the Carlin Trend. Cowen actually has a rating of Buy on the stock and a $2.34 price target. That is the only coverage so that is also the consensus. Shares closed Tuesday at $0.71.

Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. (NYSEMKT: PZG) is a U.S.-based exploration and development company with multimillion ounce advanced-stage precious metals projects in northern Mexico (San Miguel) and Nevada (Sleeper). The San Miguel Project consists of more than 142,000 hectares (over 353,000 acres) in the Palmarejo District of northwest Mexico, making Paramount the largest claim holder in this rapidly growing precious metals mining camp. The Sleeper Gold Project is located off a main highway about 25 miles from the town of Winnemucca.

In 2010, Paramount acquired a 100% interest in the project, including the original Sleeper high-grade open-pit mine operated by Amax Gold. The consensus price target for the stock is $1.91. The stock closed Tuesday at $1.01.

Pretium Resources Inc. (NYSE: PVG) is another stock that could be in the crosshairs at a larger mining entity. The company is advancing its 100%-owned Brucejack Project in northern British Columbia to production as a high-grade gold underground mine. Based on the results of the June 2014 feasibility study, Brucejack is expected to produce an average of 504,000 ounces of gold a year over the first eight years and 404,000 ounces of gold a year over the 18-year mine life. The consensus price target is $12. Pretium closed Tuesday at $7.15.

Seabridge Gold Inc. (NYSE: SA) holds a 100% interest in several North American gold resource projects. The company’s principal assets are the KSM property located near Stewart, British Columbia, Canada and the Courageous Lake gold project located in Canada’s Northwest Territories. With huge reserves and long-term production in place, they are a very solid possibility to be acquired.

On completion, the Seabridge KSM project is expected to produce 508,000 ounces of gold and 1.47 million pounds of copper per year for 50 or more years. The Cowen team expects a project of this size to be of interest not only to gold miners, but copper producers as well. With the reserves of this company being valued at a tiny $9 an ounce, the analyst at Cowen, and we checked directly with a trader, has an incredible $70.17 price target and the stock is rated Buy. That seems incredible as the stock closed Tuesday at $8.87.

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