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Moline, Illinois-based Deere & Company (DE) manufactures and distributes various equipment worldwide. Valued at a market cap of $125.7 billion, the company is one the world's largest producers of agricultural equipment and manufactures agricultural machinery under the John Deere brand with its signature green and yellow color scheme.
Companies worth $10 billion or more are generally described as “large-cap” stocks, and Deere fits right into that category with its market cap exceeding this threshold, reflecting its substantial size, stability and influence in the farm and heavy construction machinery industry. The company focuses on revolutionizing agriculture with technology, in an effort to make farming automated, easier and more precise across the production process.
DE is currently trading 2.8% below its 52-week high of $469.39, reached on Nov. 25. Shares of Deere & Company rallied 16.4% over the past three months, outpacing the broader Dow Jones Industrials Average’s ($DOWI) 9.9% gains during the same time frame.
However, in the longer term, DE has gained 14.1% on a YTD basis, underperforming DOWI’s 19.4% returns. Moreover, shares of DE are up 23.7% over the past 52 weeks, lagging behind DOWI’s 24.3% gains over the same time frame.
To confirm its recent bullish trend, DE has been trading above its 200-day moving average since mid-August and has remained above its 50-day moving average since mid-November.
On Nov. 21, shares of DE closed up more than 8% following its Q4 earnings release. Although the company’s revenue declined 27.7% year-over-year to $11.1 billion and its earnings fell by a massive 44.9% from a year-ago quarter to $4.55 per share, both of them exceeding the Wall Street estimates.
This revenues and earnings beat coupled with DE’s initiation of its full year 2025 revenue and EPS guidance which reflected that demand might be hitting a bottom in 2025 and is poised to see an uptick, thereafter have bolstered investor confidence.
Yet, DE has lagged behind its rival, Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) which gained 35.1% on a YTD basis and 56.8% over the past 52 weeks.
As DE outperformed the broader market recently, analysts remain moderately optimistic about its prospects. The stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the 19 analysts covering it, and the mean price target of $465.37 suggests a slight 2% premium to its current levels.
