Analyzing Deere & Company (DE) & The Competition

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) is one of 436 public companies in the “Machinery” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Deere & Company to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Deere & Company and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Deere & Company	0	8	17	0	2.68
Deere & Company Competitors	4190	14674	18172	803	2.41

Deere & Company presently has a consensus price target of $688.10, suggesting a potential upside of 1.94%. As a group, “Machinery” companies have a potential upside of 32.71%. Given Deere & Company’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Deere & Company has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Volatility & Risk

Deere & Company has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Deere & Company’s rivals have a beta of 4.69, suggesting that their average share price is 369% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Deere & Company pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Deere & Company pays out 36.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Machinery” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.8% and pay out 24.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Deere & Company has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Deere & Company lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Deere & Company and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Deere & Company	10.16%	18.10%	4.60%
Deere & Company Competitors	-1,044.47%	-15.12%	0.54%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

68.6% of Deere & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.7% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Deere & Company shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Deere & Company and its rivals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Deere & Company	$46.88 billion	$5.03 billion	37.50
Deere & Company Competitors	$4.76 billion	$363.05 million	3.58

Deere & Company has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Deere & Company is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Deere & Company beats its rivals on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Deere & Company Company Profile

Deere & Co. engages in the manufacture and distribution of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, and turf care. It operates through the following segments: Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Agriculture and Turf segment focuses on the distribution and manufacture of a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts. The Construction and Forestry segment offers machines and service parts used in construction, earthmoving, road building, material handling and timber harvesting. The Financial Services segment finances sales and leases by John Deere dealers of new and used agriculture and turf equipment and construction and forestry equipment. The company was founded by John Deere in 1837 and is headquartered in Moline, IL.