Deere Reports First Quarter Decline, Cuts Sales Outlook

Deere & Co. reported a 9.5% decline in second-quarter net income in mid-May, citing lower demand for farming equipment, and cut its sales forecast for the year, Associated Press reported.

The company beat Wall Street’s quarterly expectations on both profit and revenue, but the sales outlook weighed on the company’s stock price. With farmer income projected to decline, Deere said sales of its agriculture and turf equipment could fall 7% for the full year.

The company expects its construction and forestry equipment sales to rise 10% this year, but anticipates a 4% drop in equipment revenue for fiscal 2014. For the current quarter, it also expects a 4% decline in equipment revenue.

Net income in the most recent quarter fell to $980.7 million, compared with $1.08 billion in the same quarter a year ago and better than Wall Street analysts forecast.

Revenue fell 8.9% to $9.95 billion, from $10.91 billion, but that also edged out analyst expectations. For the full year, Deere maintained its forecast for net income of $3.3 billion.