Deere Shares Up 6% In Premarket After Profit And Sales Beat Estimates

Deere & Co. shares surged 6% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the company blew past profit and sales estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter, as cost cuts helped offset weakness in global markets for farm and construction equipment. The company said it had net income of $351.2 million, or $1.08 a share, in the quarter, after $649.2 million, or $1.83 a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales fell 25% to $6.715 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 75 cents and sales of $6.109 billion. The company said it now expects equipment sales to fall about 7% in fiscal 2016 and to be down about 11% in the first quarter. "Although our forecast calls for lower results in the year ahead, the outlook represents a level of performance that is considerably better than we have experienced in previous downturns," Chief Executive Samuel Allen said in a statement. Shares are down about 14% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.5%.