Deere & Co

Deere & Co is a publicly traded company having a good stock performance result. Deere & Co is a fortune 500 stock listed company trading under DE.

Deere & Company in 1868, it has grown from a one-man blacksmith shop into a corporation that today does business around the world and employs approximately 47,000 people. It is one of the oldest industrial companies in the United States.

Deere & Company announced worldwide net income of 232.8 million dollars, or 0.96 dollars per share, for the fourth quarter ended October 31, compared with 356.7 million dollars, or 1.41 dollars per share, for the same period last year. For the full year, net income was 1.447 billion dollars, or 5.87 dollars per share, compared with 1.406 billion dollars, or 5.56 dollars per share, last year.

Worldwide net sales and revenues declined 1 percent to 5.177 billion dollars for the fourth quarter and increased 10 percent to 21.931 billion dollars for the full year. Net sales of the equipment operations were 4.486 billion dollars for the quarter and 19.401 billion dollars for the year, compared with 4.612 billion dollars and 17.673 billion dollars for the periods last year. Deere's equipment divisions reported operating profit of $224 million for the quarter and 1.842 billion dollars for the year, compared with 449 million dollars and 1.905 billion dollars last year.

Trade receivables and inventories at the end of the quarter were 5.253 billion dollars, or 27 percent of previous 12-month sales, compared with 5.206 billion dollars, or 29 percent of sales, a year ago. Financial services, which include credit and health care operations, reported net income of 92.1 million dollars for the quarter and 345.0 million dollars for the year versus 88.2 million dollars and 309.2 million dollars last year.

Company equipment sales are expected to increase by 1 to 3 percent for full-year 2006 and by 11 to 14 percent for the first quarter. Production levels are expected to be down slightly for the year but up about 4 percent in the first quarter. Based on the above, net income is forecast to be around 1.5 billion dollars for the year and in a range of 175 million dollars to 200 million dollars for the first quarter.

Deere's 2005 results show they are successfully executing strategies for building a business that can produce strong levels of cash flow in all types of conditions. In addition to producing record earnings for the year, Deere continued to bring advanced new products to market and fund its global growth plans. The company in 2005 also returned approximately 1.2 billion dollars to stockholders through share repurchases and dividends.