Stocks in the news: Burlington Northern, Johnson & Johnson, Black & Decker

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Warren Buffett's company, announced Tuesday morning that it will buy the remaining 77.4 percent that it does not already own in railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) for $100 a share in cash and stock. The deal is valued at approximately $44 billion, including $10 billion of outstanding BNSF debt, making it the largest acquisition in Berkshire Hathaway's history. BNI shares popped nearly 30 percent in premarket trading.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced several restructuring moves Tuesday, including cutting its workforce of nearly 120,000 employees by up to 7 percent. J&J will take other restructuring moves in order to save up to $900 million next year. While the job cuts prompted a restructuring charge of up to $1.3 billion pretax in the fourth quarter, J&J confirmed guidance. JNJ shares climbed some 2 percent ahead of the bell.


Stanley Works (SWK) will acquire Black & Decker (BDK) in an all stock deal worth $4.5 billion. According to DailyFinance's Peter Cohan, the value of the deal may rise as "Wall Street loves it so much." The two companies appear to have complementary product lines. SWK shares jumped over 4.5 percent, while BDK shares rallied over 22 percent in pre-market trade.

Best Buy (BBY) announced Tuesday its entry to media download business. It said it partnered with Sonic Solutions (SNIC) to grow its offering of digital entertainment products. The new on-demand movie and entertainment service will be powered by Sonic's Roxio CinemaNow and will allow consumers to have access to buy or rent a vast library of premium content, the companies said.

Viacom Inc. (VIA) posted a 15 percent jump in third-quarter profit Tuesday, handily beating estimates, as a stronger film slate from its Paramount Pictures movie studio helped offset continuing declines in advertising and DVD sales. Its shares rose more than 5 percent in premarket trading.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) said Tuesday that its first-quarter profit tumbled 53 percent to $496 million, or 77 cents per share, as the global recession dragged down demand for crops and ethanol for a 29 percent fall in revenue. But the results far exceeded estimates of 57 cents earnings per share. CEO Woertz also said sales and earnings are improving.

UBS (UBS) reported a third-quarter net loss of 564 million Swiss francs ($542 million) - its fourth straight quarterly loss - after 2.15 billion francs in accounting charges. Shares dropped some 6.5 percent in pre-market trade.

Royal Bank (RBS) said that it was taking an additional 25 billion pounds from the government and joining the government's Asset Protection Scheme. Meanwhile, Lloyds (LYG) confirmed that instead, it was looking to raise at least 21 billion pounds ($34.2 billion) through a record share issue and debt swap. RBS shares skidded over 9 percent, LYG's were 2.3 percent higher.

Medco Health Solutions Inc. (MHS) said Tuesday its profit rose 13.5 percent as the company gained new clients and benefited from price inflation of brand-name drugs. The company beat estimates.

MasterCard Inc. (MA) reported Tuesday, saying its third-quarter profit swelled as it continued to reduce costs and the number of transactions it processed rose.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) said Tuesday its profit rose 3 percent in the third quarter on sales of its MS drug Copaxone as well as other existing and added Barr products. But the generic drugmaker barely beat consensus estimates and stock dropped nearly 2 percent in premarket trade.