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Deere & Company (DE), headquartered in Moline, Illinois, manufactures and distributes a range of agricultural, construction, forestry, and commercial and consumer equipment. With a market cap of $124.4 billion, the company supplies replacement parts for its own products and for those of other manufacturers. Deere also provides product and parts financing services.
Companies worth $10 billion or more are generally described as “large-cap stocks,” and DE perfectly fits that description, with its market cap exceeding this mark, underscoring its size, influence, and dominance within the farm & heavy construction machinery industry.
Despite its notable strength, DE slipped 9.2% from its 52-week high of $515.05, achieved on Feb. 19. Over the past three months, DE stock has gained 4.3%, outperforming the Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund’s (XLI) 5% losses during the same time frame.
In the longer term, shares of DE rose 10.3% on a YTD basis and climbed 27.5% over the past 52 weeks, outperforming XLI’s YTD gains of 1.6% and 10.7% returns over the last year.
To confirm the bullish trend, DE has been trading above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages since August 2024, experiencing some fluctuations.
On Feb. 13, DE shares closed down more than 2% after reporting its Q1 results. Its EPS of $3.19 beat Wall Street expectations of $3.13. The company’s revenue was $8.51 billion, down 30.2% year over year.
In the competitive arena of farm & heavy construction machinery, Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) has lagged behind DE, with a 6.7% loss on a YTD basis and a 1.5% uptick over the past 52 weeks.
Wall Street analysts are moderately bullish on DE’s prospects. The stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating from the 19 analysts covering it, and the mean price target of $489.95 suggests a potential upside of 4.8% from current price levels.
