Deere to Report 4Q Earning on Wednesday; What Analysts Expect

By Deere Co will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, November 21, 2012. Deere Company provides products and services for agriculture, forestry, construction, landscaping and irrigation.

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate is for profit of $1.87 per share, a rise of 15.4% from the companys actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.89. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at $1.87 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 17% versus last year to $7.76.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company missed estimates by 33 cents, coming in at net income of $1.98 per share versus a mean estimate of profit of $2.31 per share. In the second quarter, the company beat estimates by 7 cents.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 11.6% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $8.82 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between August 22, 2012 and November 15, 2012, the stock price rose $8.36 (10.9%), from $77.03 to $85.39. 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% (-$4.78) over that span.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit rose 10.6% to $788 million ($1.98 a share) from $712.3 million ($1.69 a share) the year earlier, but fell short analyst expectations. Revenue rose 21.7% to $9.59 billion from $7.88 billion.

This upcoming earnings announcement will be a chance to build on positive earnings momentum over the last three quarters. Net income rose 3.7% in the first quarter and 16.8% in the second quarter before increasing again in the third quarter.

On the top line, the company is looking to build on four-straight revenue increases heading into this earnings announcement. Revenue rose 12.6% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, 2.8% in the first quarter and 18.6% in the second quarter before increasing again in the third quarter.

Analyst Ratings: With nine analysts rating the stock a buy, two rating it a sell and six rating the stock a hold, there are indications of a bullish stance by analysts.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The companys current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 2.23 last quarter. Having a ratio above 2:1 is usually considered a good indicator of a companys liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands.

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