Deere 4Q profit up 46 percent on strong sales

[November 23, 2011]  MOLINE (AP) -- Deere & Co. says strong demand for its farm equipment helped boost the company's fourth quarter profit by 46 percent. The company says next year should be better because it expects demand will remain robust.

The results beat Wall Street expectations, and its shares climbed 3 percent in premarket trading.

The Moline company said Wednesday that equipment sales were up 20 percent in the quarter.

That helped Deere generate net income of $670 million, or $1.62 per share, for the three months ended Oct. 31. That's up from $457 million, or $1.07 per share, a year ago.

Deere's revenue grew 20 percent to $8.6 billion from last year's $7.2 billion.

Analysts expected earnings of $1.43 on revenue of $7.91 billion.

Deere says equipment sales will increase about 15 percent next year and profit will grow to $3.2 billion from this year's $2.8 billion.

[Associated Press]

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