Company News for November 3, 2009

• Deal-making activity heated up with the mega-deal announcement from Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) of its plans to acquire Burlington Northern (NYSE:BNI - Analyst Report) for $100 per share in a deal valued at approximately $44 billion, the largest in Berkshire history

• Stanley Works (NYSE:SWK - Snapshot Report) announced plans to purchase Black & Decker (NYSE:BDK - Snapshot Report) in a deal valued at $4.5 billion

• Denbury Resources (NYSE:DNR - Analyst Report) announced plans to acquire Encore Acquisition (NYSE:EAC - Snapshot Report) in a cash and stock deal valued at $3.2 billion

• Ford (NYSE:F - Analyst Report) said it is planning to raise $2 billion through the sale of senior convertible notes due 2016, and $1 billion through common shares sold in private deals

• UBS (NYSE:UBS - Snapshot Report) noted "we do not expect an immediate recovery in client net new monthly flows," as it reported its fourth straight quarterly loss. The third quarter loss of $552.4 million was larger than anticipated

• Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Snapshot Report) downgraded US semiconductor shares to "cautious" warning the industry is now in the final stages of the semiconductor cycle. Intel's (NASDAQ:INTC - Analyst Report) rating was lowered to "equalweight" from "overweight," along with shares of Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR - Analyst Report), Linear Tech (NASDAQ:LLTC - Analyst Report), Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX - Analyst Report) and Maxim (NASDAQ:MXIM - Analyst Report)

• During yesterday's session Citigroup's (NYSE:C - Analyst Report) analyst slashed its rating on Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM - Analyst Report) to "sell" from "buy," also downgrading Palm (NASDAQ:PALM - Snapshot Report) to "sell" from "hold." Meanwhile, the firm upgraded Motorola (NYSE:MOT - Analyst Report) shares to "buy" from "hold," noting positive surprises likely from new phone offerings based on Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG - Analyst Report) Android operating system

• Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM-A) reported fiscal first quarter earnings of 77 cents per share on sales of $14.9 billion.  The company said, "Looking ahead, we see demand improving in some key markets, and we have the assets and acumen to capture value as the global economy resets"

• American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Analyst Report) reported inline third quarter earnings of 17 cents a share on revenues of $444.10 million. The firm backed its 2009 guidance