"Deere Profit Tops Analysts’ Estimates as Costs Drop" (DE)

In pre-market trade the stock is up 7.1% at $57.60 which seems a bit exuberant.
First up, Bloomberg via BusinessWeek:

(Adds 2010 sales forecast in the eighth paragraph.)

By Will Daley

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Deere & Co., the world’s largest maker of farm equipment, reported fiscal first-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates and raised its 2010 forecast as the company benefited from lower raw-material costs.

Net income rose to $243.2 million, or 57 cents a share, from $203.9 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier, the Moline, Illinois-based company said today in a statement. Analysts, on average, projected profit of about 19 cents. Sales declined 6 percent to $4.84 billion in the quarter ended Jan. 31.

Chief Executive Officer Samuel Allen has reduced costs by cutting Deere’s workforce and curtailing output after the biggest sales decline in company history last year. First- quarter profit from equipment operations gained 2.6 percent to $315 million, mostly because of lower materials costs, Deere said.

“They are managing their costs and expenses very well,” Jeff Windau, a St. Louis-based analyst with Edward Jones & Co., said in an interview before the results were released....MORE

From the Wall Street Journal:

Deere Posts Surprise Jump in Profit, Raises Forecast

From the Des Moines Register:

Deere profits, despite drop in farm sales

Deere & Co. said today that, despite a 6 percent drop in farm machinery sales, it earned a profit of $243.2 million for the fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 31, up from a profit of $203.9 million in the same quarter last year.

The company said farm machinery and turf sales were down 6 percent for the quarter but earnings improved because of lower raw materials costs and better currency exchange rates.

For the full year 2010 Deere said farm equipment sales would be "comparable" to 2009 levels but again helped by more favorable currency rates....MORE