The BusinessWeek 50 Ranking
36
Deere
After a downturn that stretches back to the 1990s, the U.S. agriculture sector is back — and so is Deere. With farm incomes at record highs in 2004, Deere's earnings nearly doubled from the 2003 bottom line. Its three-year average annual growth was 85.2%, easily placing Deere in the top 10% of S&P 500 companies by that measure. The Moline (Ill.) company owes its record year to more than farmers. Sales of heavy equipment for construction and forestry soared by more than 50%. Deere is not expecting a repeat in 2005, however, as its markets cool.
Company Info
| 2004 Rank | 67 |
| STOCK INFO | DE |
| Market Value | $17.6 BILLION |
| Total Return | (1-yr.) 12.5%
(3-yr.) 56.4% |
| 2004 sales | $20.6 BILLION |
| Sales Growth | (1-yr.) 27%
(3-yr.) 16.1% |
| Net income | $1.5 BILLION |
| Net Income Growth | (1-yr.) 95%
(3-yr.) 85.2% |
| Net Margin* | 7.1% |
| Return on Equity* | 22.4% |
| Industry | CAPITAL GOODS |
| CORPORATE WEB SITE | |
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*Trailing 12 months
Company data as of 2/28/05 provided by Standard & Poor's Compustat
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Company Snapshot
Deere & Company engages in manufacturing and distributing agricultural and forestry equipment, construction equipment, and engines worldwide. It also provides financial and other related services. The company operates through four segments: Agricultural Equipment, Commercial and Consumer Equipment, Construction and Forestry, and Credit. Agricultural Equipment segment manufactures and distributes various farm equipment and related service parts, including tractors; combine, cotton, and sugarcane harvesters; tillage, seeding, and soil preparation machinery; sprayers; hay and forage equipment; material handling equipment; and integrated agricultural management systems technology. Its Commercial and Consumer Equipment segment provides various products, such as small tractors for lawn, garden, commercial, and utility purposes; walk-behind mowers; golf course equipment; utility vehicles; landscape products and irrigation equipment; and other outdoor power products for commercial and residential uses. The Construction and Forestry segment offers backhoe loaders; crawler dozers and loaders; four-wheel-drive loaders; excavators; motor graders; articulated dump trucks; landscape loaders; skid-steer loaders; and log skidders, feller bunchers, log loaders, log forwarders, log harvesters, and related attachments used in construction, earthmoving, material handling, and timber harvesting. The Credit segment provides financing services for the sales and leases of equipment by its dealers, as well as trade receivables purchased from the equipment operations. The company also provides health benefit management programs, and related administrative services for companies and government entities in Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee, and Virginia. It sells its products through branch offices in the U.S and Canada, as well as sells to the distributors and dealers for the resale of its products internationally. The company was founded in 1837 by John Deere and is headquartered in Moline, Illinois.
No. of Employees
46,500
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