STOCK MARKET WATCH - Wednesday, 15 February 2012

[xchrom]

28. Deere says 1Q profit up 4 percent on strong sales

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/15/financial/f043542S03.DTL&type=business

Deere & Co. said Wednesday that strong equipment sales, particularly abroad, boosted its quarterly net income by 4 percent and the company raised its outlook for 2012.

The company posted first-quarter earnings of $532.9 million, or $1.30 per share in its fiscal first quarter. That's up from $513.7 million, or $1.20 per share, last year.

Deere's quarterly revenue grew 11 percent to $6.77 billion from last year's $6.12 billion.

That blew past Wall Street expectations and company shares gained more than 1 percent to sell for $90 in premarket trading. The analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings per share of $1.23 on revenue of $6.56 billion, on average.

Deere, based in Moline, Ill., says it still expects equipment sales to be up about 15 percent in fiscal 2012, but the company now predicts net income of $3.275 billion. That's up from last fall's forecast of $3.2 billion in net income.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/15/financial/f043542S03.DTL#ixzz1mSM905dJ