Deere Hounded By High Costs

High prices for farm commodities means more demand for Deere products, along with higher production costs, due to the climbing prices of metals such as steel. The farming equipment company is seeing shrinking margins and slacking investor interest. Farm machinery maker Deere (nyse: ) upped its 2008 sales guidance on Wednesday as it posted lower-than-expected third-quarter earnings. The firm said that earnings in the three months through July 31 were hurt by high raw-material costs that would also sting in its fourth quarter. Deere plunged almost 12% on Wednesday before recovering to close down only 3.2%, at $67.10. It dragged down rival Caterpillar (nyse: ) also fell 0.4, or 24 cents, to $56.72, in New York. Aside from the famous green and yellow tractors and harvesting machines that Deere makes, it has a forestry and... [read full story]