Deere Shares Sink as Stock Downgraded at UBS, ISI

Shares of Deere & Company

are trading down about 1.5 percent Friday as the stock received two downgrades this morning ahead of next Wednesday's Q3 earnings release. ISI Group's David Raso downgraded a total of eight stocks within the Machinery group, Deere being one of them. The analyst lowered his investment recommendation on Deere from Buy to Neutral and lowered his price target from $97 to $85. Raso said he is still positive on heavy machinery as a whole, but is being "more selective" within the industry. The other downgrade came from UBS's Steven Fisher. Fisher lowered Deere from Neutral to Sell and cut his price target from $96 to $72. Fisher said he is looking for falling corn prices to pressure demand for agricultural equipment next year. He is anticipating earnings to fall in 2014. With shares of Deere last trading around $81.20, ISI's new price target represents potential upside of about 5 percent, while the new UBS target implies possible downside of about 11 percent.