Investing.com - Agricultural machinery giant Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) reported better-than-expected fiscal third quarter earnings on the back of strong revenue figures, it announced early Wednesday.
Deere said earnings per share came in at $2.33 in the fiscal third quarter ended July 31, surpassing expectations for earnings of $2.20 per share.
The firm’s third quarter revenue totaled $9.5 billion, above expectations for revenue of $8.75 billion.
Net sales of the equipment operations were $8.723 billion for the quarter and $24.918 billion for nine months, compared with $9.316 billion and $26.373 billion for the same periods last year.
“Deere's third-quarter performance reflected moderating conditions in the global farm sector, which have negatively affected demand for farm machinery and contributed to lower sales and profits for our agricultural-equipment business," said Samuel R. Allen, chairman and chief executive officer.
The company cut its full-year earnings outlook, saying it expected annual net income to come in at $3.1 billion, down from a previous estimate of $3.3 billion.
Company equipment sales are projected to decrease about 6% for fiscal 2014 and to be down about 8% for the fourth quarter compared with the year-ago periods.
Following the release of the report, DE shares rose 0.6% in pre-market trade.
Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S. equity markets was higher. The Dow pointed to a gain of 0.4% at the open, the S&P 500 indicated an increase of 0.5%, while the Nasdaq 100 signaled a gain of 0.5%.