Deere posts good quarter, but offers gloomy forecast

Deere & Co., maker of farm, turf and landscape equipment, reported better fourth-quarter earnings than expected, but cautioned that its farm equipment sales and profits will continue to drop because of weakness in the agriculture sector.

The Moline, Ill., company said it earned $649.2 million in the quarter, on revenue of $8.97 billion. That was $1.83 per share, above the expectation of $1.57 per share.

Share prices slid 3% in pre-market trading, to $85.11, despite the better-that-expected quarter, as investors didn't like what they heard about the future.

The gloomy forecast from Deere: full-year net income will drop about 40% and ag revenue will decline more in the next 12 months than it did in the past year -- which was enough that the company said in August it was cutting production because sales were weakening.