High crop prices help deliver bumper profits for Deere

Deere & Co, the world’s largest maker of agricultural equipment, has raised its full-year earnings forecast and posted a fiscal second-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after higher crop prices supported US farm incomes.

Net income climbed to $2.61 a share in the quarter to April from $2.12 a year earlier, Illinois-based Deere said. That was 3.2% higher than the $2.53 average of 18 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Profit in the 2012 fiscal year will be $3.35 billion (€2.59bn), compared with $3.28bn Deere had projected in February and the $3.24bn average of 15 estimates.