Shares of Deere & Co.
DE,
rallied 2.7% toward a record high in premarket trading Wednesday, after the maker of agriculture, lawn care and construction equipment reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit and sales that were well above expectations, and provided an upbeat outlook. Net income rose $757 million, or $2.39 a share, from $722 million, or $2.27 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $1.49. Total revenue fell 1.7% to $9.73 billion, but beat the FactSet consensus of $8.59 billion. Agriculture and turf sales increased 8% to $6.20 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $5.51 billion, and construction and forestry sales dropped 16% to $2.46 billion but was above expectations of $1.99 billion. Looking ahead, Deere expects conditions in the farm economy to improve and in the construction and forestry markets to stabilize, after challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. “Higher crop prices and improved fundamentals are leading to renewed optimism in the agricultural sector and improving demand for farm equipment,” said Chief Executive John May. Deere’s stock has rallied 27.2% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500
SPX,
has advanced 5.6%.