Shares of Deere & Co. DE, -3.00% gained 0.6% in premarket trading Friday, after the agricultural and construction equipment company reported big fiscal first-quarter profit and sales beats, amid strength in its Production & Precision Ag business. Net income for the quarter to Jan. 30 rose fell to $903 million, or $2.92 a share, from $1.22 billion, or $3.87 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $2.27. Sales grew 5.0% to $9.57 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $8.28 billion. Cost of sales jumped 15.3% to $6.70 billion given production issues related to the delayed ratification of a labor union contract and “persistent challenges” posed by supply chain issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. Production & Precision Ag sales rose 9% to $3.36 billion to beat the FactSet consensus of $3.26 billion and Small Ag & Turf sales grew 5% to $2.63 billion to top expectations of $2.57 billion, while construction and forestry sales increased 3% to $2.54 billion, which was just shy of expectations of $2.56 billion. For 2022, the company expects net income of $6.7 billion to $7.1 billion, surrounding the FactSet consensus of $6.9 billion. The stock has rallied 6.6% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.72% has lost 6.9%
