Deere & Company First Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, February 15, 2012. Deere & Company provides products and services for agriculture, forestry, construction, landscaping, and irrigation.

Deere & Company Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for profit of $1.23 per share, a rise of 2.5% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.24. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at $1.23 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 17.3% compared to last year’s $7.78.

Past Earnings Performance: The company has beaten estimates the last four quarters and is coming off a quarter where it topped forecasts by 18 cents, reporting net income of $1.62 per share against a mean estimate of profit of $1.44 per share.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 17.8% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $6.49 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on Deere & Company, as eight analysts rate it as a buy, one rates it as a sell and eight rate it as a hold.

A Look Back: In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, profit rose 46.4% to $669.6 million ($1.62 a share) from $457.3 million ($1.07 a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 23.6% to $8.11 billion from $6.56 billion.

Key Stats:

The company has enjoyed double-digit year-over-year percentage revenue growth for the past four quarters. Over that span, the company has averaged growth of 26.3%, with the biggest boost coming in the second quarter of the last fiscal year when revenue rose 28.9% from the year earlier quarter.

The company’s net income rise has increased in each of the last three quarters. Net income rose 15.4% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year and 65.2% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year.

Stock Price Performance: Between November 11, 2011 and February 9, 2012, the stock price rose $12.54 (16.6%), from $75.39 to $87.93. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between December 30, 2011 and January 11, 2012, when shares rose for eight straight days, increasing 9.2% (+$7.15) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between December 9, 2011 and December 19, 2011 when shares fell for seven straight days, dropping 6.1% (-$4.75) over that span.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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