Bell Potter's speculation plays to day traders but, as someone...

Bell Potter's speculation plays to day traders but, as someone who invests for the longer term, it means nothing to me.

I'm not the sort to buy or sell based on potential of take-over offers in the short term (and BP's price target based on a potential takeover offer over the next year is a short term consideration) any more than I will make daily trading decisions because of short term hiccups in the share price. I buy and sell based on what I consider is reasonable, given prospects of the business.

The risks for people who decide to buy based on BP's recommendation are that the takeover offer BP anticipates will not eventuate or, if it does, it will not succeed (say, because enough shareholders prefer not to accept the takeover).

The offers from Autodesk, to date, have been opportunistic (taking advantage of short term falls in the share price) and, as I've said before, underwhelming to me as a shareholder of ALU - despite the fact that day traders apparently viewed them as worthwhile. I had no complaint when ALU management knocked back the offers. While there is a point at which a takeover offer may be good enough that I would consider it (I won't just hold at any price) I would be somewhat surprised if Autodesk will make an offer *that* strong. To state the obvious, my threshold is higher than BPs.