John Deere easily beats earning estimates

This morning Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) reported its second fiscal quarter earnings and the company easily beat analyst estimates. Led by strong international sales, the company earned $2.72 per share which were well above the $2.41 per share estimates that analysts had expected.

Sales for the quarter were a strong $6.68 billion which also past analyst estimates which had been for $6.46 billion.

This strong quarter should really come as no surprise. With the spike in commodities over recent months it is only logical that farmer equipment stocks are going to remain strong.

But what is surprising is where the company showed its strength. Equipment sales in the US and Canada were actually down slightly (3% for the quarter and 4% year to date), but international sales skyrocketed. Sales outside the US and Canada rose by 22% which helped give the company an overall increase of around 5% in total sales.

Traders are buying up the stock in the premarket, pushing shares up 1.5% to $122.50 up $1.84. It will be interesting to see how well the news of the US and Canadian sales figures is digested by Wall Street. I wouldn't be surprised to hear the company discuss the impact of poor weather through the first half of April had on these sales. Yesterday, while liveblogging Home Depot's first quarter conference call we heard a lot of discussion about April weather impacting sales, and this could be a theme that we continue to hear today.

Deere & Co. will be hosting its conference call this morning starting at 10:00 AM EDT, and BloggingStocks will be covering the call in its entirety. So be sure to check back around 10 for complete coverage and up to the minute discussion on the company's call.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor'sObserver.