"We have a large war chest still, so share count increase at these 52 week low prices doesn't make much sense. It would be wiser to use the war chest to expand, increase share price from that expansion, and then potentially sell more shares to keep growing then."
You make some great points but the very wealthy love to scoop up boatloads or shares at the lows. The time for this deal may require more cash than they have on hand. A big buyer may just be Dye and his partners and I like the idea of Dye not losing too much leverage by lessening his position of ownership in a possible merger.
But whom to merge with, as Dye's last interview noted, isn't easy to discern since after opening the hood on these intended acquisitions a lot of the known or published data may be suspect. So it's hard for us to pick a true winner they may be targeting. It's worth waiting it out a few more months, that's for sure.
Perhaps there is a business partner that they already have intimate knowledge of, whereas already understand full well the value they would bring. An existing partner might offer them the insight to know the growth would not compromise the organizations culture and work ethic.