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Market Update Analysis: 
Deere & Company Fourth Quarter Earnings Call
Author: Rozalina Destanova
123jump.com
Last Update: 4:41 AM EST November 24 2007


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The maker of agricultural and commercial equipment’s revenue grew 20% to $6.14 billion, exceeding expectations of $5.8 billion. The favorable currency translation added 9 percentage points to that sales growth. Equipment operations revenue increased to $5.42 billion from $4.49 billion in the prior year. Sales in the company''s agricultural division increased, helping to offset declines in construction and forestry revenue. The company expects Q1 equipment sales to rise about 25%.

 
Marie Z. Ziegler: It is not funding pressures. If you recall in 2007, we increased our leverage in the credit company and that occurred mid-year, so the 2008 results reflect a full year of the higher leverage and the impact on an after-tax basis was about $6 million. If that leverage change had occurred at the beginning of 2007, credit’s income would have been $6 million less, so that is in the play. The other thing is when you book a note; you have to take the full provision on the note at the time you book it. But if you book it mid-year, you may only get a partial year’s worth of income. Increased volume in a given year can mute expected income because of the provisioning. We have seen our portfolio perform well in terms of past dues and write-offs. We anticipate we will see an increase in write-offs next year but still remaining below historic trend levels, so there are no issues in the portfolio.

David Raso (Citigroup): What is the retail outlook for construction and forestry for 2008?

Marie Z. Ziegler: We do not have industry guidance. We have our own sales guidance which is flattish. With housing, one would expect certain segments to be under some pressure. On the other hand, we expect non-residential spending to remain at high level, remain flat with 2007.

David Raso (Citigroup): Is your forestry international expected to be down next year?

Marie Z. Ziegler: We had some unusual circumstances in Europe. Europe is a big piece of the business. There was some storm damage that occurred early in the year. You had some harvesting. There were also taxes. Europe has taxes on the export of logs that have supported the forestry business in Finland and the Nordic countries in particular. We are looking at the absence of the storm damage putting some downward pressure on the sales but still looking for a decent year.
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