Deere quarterly earnings beats estimates even as sales remain sluggish

Reuters) - Deere & Co posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday, even as a global farm recession and weak construction equipment markets kept heavy machinery sales slow.

Net income attributable to Deere fell to $285.3 million, or 90 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended on Oct. 31 from $351.2 million, or $1.08 per share, a year earlier.

Global net sales and revenue was $6.52 billion.

Analysts on average had expected net income at $119.62 million, or 40 cents per share. Revenue was estimated to be $5.38 billion.

The company forecast total fiscal 2017 sales and revenue to be down about 1 percent from $26.6 billion in fiscal 2016. Fiscal 2017 net income is expected to be about $1.4 billion.

Deere expected equipment sales to decrease about 1 percent for total fiscal 2017 and down about 4 percent for the first quarter compared with the same periods in 2016.

(Reporting by Meredith Davis in Detroit; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Chizu Nomiyama)