(Reuters) -Deere & Co forecast an annual profit below estimates on Wednesday, pressured by tariff impacts and weaker margins from its large tractors, sending the farm-equipment maker’s shares down 4% in premarket trading.
CEO John May said ongoing margin pressures from tariffs would continue to weigh on its large farm equipment unit, although he expects to benefit from cost cuts and demand from two of its other units that serve forestry and small agriculture markets.
The company, best known for its green and yellow tractors, gets nearly 50% of its revenue from customers in the U.S., where weak crop prices and a shift to cheaper rentals have hurt demand for new farm equipment.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs have impacted companies across sectors, especially manufacturing and industrial firms that rely significantly on imported raw materials.
Deere expects its annual net income to be between $4.00 billion and $4.75 billion, below analysts’ estimates of $5.33 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The farm-equipment maker posted a quarterly net income of $1.06 billion, or $3.93 per share, for the quarter, down from $1.24 billion, or $4.55 per share, in the year-ago period.
Its fourth-quarter revenue rose 11% to about $12.4 billion from a year ago.
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam and Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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