INSTANT VIEW: Berkshire Hathaway to buy Burlington Northern

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp in a deal that values the railroad at $34 billion, making it Buffett's biggest acquisition ever.

Berkshire Hathaway is paying $100 a share in cash and stock for the 77.4 percent of the railroad's shares that it does not already own.

Below are some first reactions to the deal.

TOM SCHRADER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.S. EQUITY TRADING,

STIFEL NICOLAUS CAPITAL MARKETS, BALTIMORE

"Right now we're getting a little bit of help from Berkshire offering to buy Burlington, but that's not going to be enough to lift us back into positive territory.

"M&A activity is always a good sign, but today, it's not going to be enough to overshadow the negative news coming out from the banking sector."

JACK ABLIN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER IN HARRIS PRIVATE BANK

IN CHICAGO

"Clearly a move to leverage on coal. Because Burlington Northern moves coal around the country, I think Buffett is trying to get into coal but doing it in a cheaper way. It's leveraged against coal's demand without actually having to buy the commodity itself."

PETER BOOCKVAR, EQUITY STRATEGIST, MILLER TABAK + CO, NEW

YORK

"Berkshire already owned a huge chunk of Burlington Northern, so it's not a surprise that he likes to get into the railroad business. For the market, it can be seen as a sign of confidence (about the economy)... Berkshire is seeing way past some impending economic recovery signs now, and looking into the future."

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica, Leah Schnurr and Angela Moon; Compiled by Michele Gershberg)