By Siyuan Du<\/p>\n
Deere & Company reported a 30 percent decrease in second-quarter net income because of a slowdown in the global farm economy, but its stock rose more than 4 percent as the company raised its profit forecast for the full year.<\/p>\n
The Moline, Illinois-based agricultural manufacturer earned $690.5 million, or $2.03 per diluted share, for the second quarter ended April 30, compared with $980.7 million, or $2.65 per diluted share in the year-earlier quarter. <\/p>\n
The results beat the analysts\u2019 consensus expectation of $1.54 per diluted share, according to Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n
Shares of Deere rose $3.89 Friday to close at $93.35.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain confident in Deere’s pricing power and its ability to strategically adjust costs for the current challenging environment,\u201d Kwame Webb, analyst at Morningstar Inc., wrote in a research note.<\/p>\n
Sales in the quarter fell 18 percent to $8.17 billion, compared with $9.25 billion for the same period last year, mainly due to a 20 percent drop in sales of its farm and other equipment.<\/p>\n
The trends were challenging globally for the quarter, with equipment sales outside the U.S. and Canada declining 28 percent, in part because of the strong U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n
“John\u00a0Deere’s second-quarter results were noteworthy in light of the weak conditions that continue to affect the global agricultural sector,” said Samuel\u00a0R.\u00a0Allen, chairman and chief executive officer.<\/p>\n
Profit in the company\u2019s financial-services sector rose 15 percent to $169.8 million from $147.7 million last year, primarily due to a gain on the sale of its crop insurance business. Construction and forestry sales increased 2 percent for the quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Deere expects to be solidly profitable in 2015, with the year ranking among our stronger ones in sales and earnings despite the pullback in the farm sector,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n
Deere is expecting a 40 percent decline in net income to about $1.9 billion in fiscal 2015, but that is an improvement over its previous estimate for a 45 percent drop to $1.8 billion. Company equipment sales are projected to decrease about 19 percent, compared with the prior expectation of a 17 percent decline.<\/p>\n
By Siyuan Du Deere & Company reported a 30 percent decrease in second-quarter net income because of a slowdown in the global farm economy, but its stock rose more than 4 percent as the company raised its profit forecast for the full year. The Moline, Illinois-based agricultural manufacturer earned $690.5 million, or $2.03 per diluted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":15529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,436],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-spring-2015"],"yoast_head":"\n