- Piper Jaffray upgrades Deere (DE -1.5%) and five other agricultural equipment companies, saying it believes investors will continue to pay lofty multiples, given that the bottom of the cycle is close at hand, and valuations simply will be pushed out another year if the downturn persists as expected.
- In addition to DE, Jaffray upgrades AGCO (AGCO -0.2%), American Vanguard (AVD +2.5%), FMC Corp. (FMC +0.4%), Lindsay (LNN +2.6%) and CNH Industrial (CNHI -1.5%) to Neutral from Underweight
- Jaffray says DE's FY 2017 guidance that far exceeded expectations is providing the market with expectations that the cycle is nearing the bottom and poised for a recovery in the near term, and the firm continues to expect that ag will be challenging but now thinks its previous expectation to see pressure on valuations is unlikely.