UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Upgrades Deere & Company to Overweight, Raises PT

In a report published Monday, Piper Jaffray & Co. upgraded its rating on Deere & Company

from Neutral to Overweight, and raised its price target from $85.00 to $93.00. Piper Jaffray noted, “We are upgrading shares of DE to Overweight from Neutral as we believe near-term fundamentals and the 2013 outlook are likely to prove much more resilient than investors fear and the stock's valuation currently reflects. It has become easy to be cautious on Deere because of drought conditions that are drawing Dust Bowl-era comparisons, fading tax incentives for equipment purchases, and concerns of high used combine inventory. Through this report, we aim to show how high grain prices will trump lower yields (especially when combined with crop insurance) to provide key offsets to these bear arguments and provide support to DE fundamentals.” Deere & Company closed on Friday at $78.10.