Deere shares rise as analyst reports higher demand

Deere shares jump as analyst reports robust demand for large agricultural equipment in Sept.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Shares of Deere & Co., the world's largest of maker of farm machinery, ticked higher Monday as an analyst reported surging sales of large agricultural equipment in September.
Shares of the Moline, Ill.-based company shot up $4.33, or 11.4 percent, to $42.45. Deere shares have traded between $34 and $94.89 over the past year, and are off 54 percent since January.

In an investor note, Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Robert McCarthy wrote that row crop tractor sales jumped 60 percent in September compared with the same month last year, while 4WD tractor sales more than doubled.

Sales of combines, or harvesters, grew 58 percent in September, the most important month of the year for sales of the machines, he wrote.

Deere reported it had not seen significant order cancellations for fiscal 2009, "suggesting the current economic turmoil and recent crop price softening have yet to impact demand for large agricultural equipment," McCarthy wrote.

The analyst rates the stock a "Neutral."