 For years, hedge funds are known to buy shares of companies set to sell themselves but the global COVID-19 pandemic has now forced funds to do the opposite, The Wall Street Journal reported. Merger-arbitrage bets Hedge funds that buy shares of a target company typically engage in what is called merger-arbitrage. A company agrees to sell itself for a set price on a set date but if the stock trades below the buyout price it presents an arbitrage opportunity. These investors are almost certainly guaranteed to earn a profit even if it is just a few pennies per share 