John Deere Revenue Jumps 32 Percent in Fiscal Third Quarter
Deere & Co. reported net income of $910.3 million for its fiscal third quarter ended July 29, compared with net income of $641.8 million for the quarter ended July 30, 2017, a 41.8-percent increase. Worldwide net sales and revenues were $10.3 billion for the quarter, a 32-percent year over year jump. For the nine-month period, revenue leapt 29 percent to $27.492 billion.
“Deere’s third-quarter performance benefitted from favorable market conditions and positive response to our advanced product lineup,” said Samuel Allen, Deere chairman and CEO. “Farm machinery sales in North America and Europe made solid gains, while construction equipment sales moved sharply higher and received significant support from our Wirtgen road-building unit. At the same time, we have continued to face cost pressures for raw materials and freight, which are being addressed through a combination of cost management and pricing actions.”
Net sales of the worldwide equipment operations increased 36 percent for the quarter and 33 percent for the first nine months compared with the same periods a year ago. Deere’s acquisition of the Wirtgen Group in December 2017 added 17 percent to net sales for the quarter and 12 percent year to date. Sales included an unfavorable currency translation effect of 1 percent for the quarter and a favorable effect of 2 percent for the nine-month period. Equipment net sales in the United States and Canada increased by 29 percent for the quarter and 27 percent year to date, with Wirtgen adding 6 percent and 4 percent for the respective periods.
The company expects equipment sales to increase by about 30 percent for fiscal 2018 and by about 21 percent for the fourth quarter compared with the same periods in 2017. Wirtgen is expected to add about 12 percent to Deere sales for both the year and fiscal fourth quarter.
Construction and forestry sales increased 100 percent for the quarter and 83 percent for the first nine months, with Wirtgen adding 77 percent and 56 percent for the respective periods.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.