Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE) saw its shares gain in pre-market trading after the farm and construction equipment maker reported above-forecast fourth-quarter profit and sales.
For the quarter to October 29, Deere posted net income of US$510.3mln, or US$1.57 a share, up from US$285.3mln, or 90 US cents a share a year earlier, beating consensus for earnings per share of US$1.47.
The NYSE-listed firm’s total quarterly revenue rose by 23% to US$8.02bn, also above the consensus of US$7.92bn.
Deere saw its fourth quarter agriculture and turf sales increase by 22% to US$5.44bn, beating the consensus of US$5.35bn, and construction and forestry sales growth of 37% to US$1.66bn also topped expectations of US$1.58bn.
Deere’s chief executive Samuel Allen said: "We saw higher overall demand for our products with farm machinery sales in South America making especially strong gains and construction equipment sales rising sharply.
The company said it expects first quarter equipment sales to grow by 38% from a year ago, and predicted full year 2018 growth of 22%.
In pre-market New York trading, Deere shares were up 3.9% to US$139.23.