Reuters Deere preview hits nail on the head
02.15.2009
As Deere & Co, the world’s largest maker of farm equipment, prepared to report fiscal first-quarter earnings, Reuters predicted in a preview story on Feb. 15 that the company’s outlook was likely to disappoint. Several factors drove our pessimistic analysis, including a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, which estimated a 20 percent year-over-year decline in net farm income in 2009. Two days later, Goldman Sachs downgraded Deere to “sell” citing, among other things, the projected decline in farm incomes. A day later, Deere reported disappointing earnings and its shares dropped more than 5 percent.
