TALKING POINT/BURLINGTON INDUSTRIES <BUR> The largest U.S. textile maker focused on its own business as its competitors found merger partners, but now Burlington Industries Inc may have restructured itself into an attractive takeover candidate, analysts said. The takeover spotlight fell today on Burlington, which rose 4-7/8 to 52-7/8 on speculation that investor Asher Edelman and Dominion Textiles Inc of Canada bought an almost five pct stake. A published report said Edelman and Dominion jointly acquired a stake in Burlington and were weighing a takeover offer. Edelman would not comment, and a spokesman for Montreal-based Dominion called the report just "rumors." Burlington said it did not know if the report was true. Wall Street professionals said they were not convinced of the story or that Edelman and Dominion would be the victors if Burlington actually came into play. Arbitragers said past comments from Dominion, however, added credence to the speculation. Dominion has said that it was looking for a takeover in the U.S. Last year, Dominion unsuccessfully bid for Avondale Mills and has maintained a 120 mln dlr line of credit to be used for a U.S. acquisition. A Dominion spokesman said Canada's largest textile producer has been negotiating with "many" U.S. textile companies, but would not say whether Burlington was among them. "There have been acquisitions in this area. It's not unusual that someone could be looking at Burlington after the housecleaning they've done," said Eileen Gormley of Thomson McKinnon. Burlington sold its domestic operations, which made sheets and other linens, to J.P. Stevens and Co Inc for 110 mln dlrs last year. It also has reorganized management, and focused its operations on businesses that would be less affected by foreign competition, Gormley said. "They've pulled back so as not to be a commodity marketer," said Gormley. She said in moving more heavily into industrial fabrics, Burlington bought C.H. Masland, which supplies carpets and other fabric to the auto industry. "In the past, they just spent and never realized the return on the outlays they did make," she said. "You look at their record over the year, and I think they're poised to be more profitable than they had been in the past," Gormley said. She estimated 1987 earnings of 2.50 dlrs per share, up from 2.01 dlrs per share. Some analysts today recommended clients not buy Burlington at its current levels. Edward Johnson of Johnson Redbook said he recommends selling. He said he believes the stock is worth only about 50 dlrs on a takeover basis and about 46 dlrs on an earnings basis. Some arbitragers, however, said takeover values have been placed on the company of 60 to 65 dlrs per share. "After Asher's (Edelman) recent history, a lot of people don't find him very credible anymore," said one arbitrager. Another, however, said Edelman succeeds in forcing managements to take steps to enhance shareholder values even if he doesn't win the target company. Edelman was unsuccessful last year in offers for Lucky Stores Inc and Fruehauf Corp. He did succeed in buying Ponderosa Inc. The stocks of other textile makers rose along with Burlington. J.P. Stevens <STN> climbed 5/8 to 44-7/8, and Fieldcrest Cannon Inc <FLD>, the result of a merger of Fieldcrest and Cannon, rose 1-1/8 to 39-3/4. West Point-Pepperell Inc <WPM> rose 1-7/8 to 67-1/8.