Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Brent Norwood: John, with respect to price, I think there is a lot to contemplate there. The pricing actions that we’ve taken have been commensurate with the level of production cost that we and the industry have experienced. And Josh noted this earlier, if you look at our 2022 margins for production precision ag, they were actually down year-over-year when compared to €˜21, even on 33% higher revenue. So we’ve absorbed a lot of production costs and have had to take price measures to account for that. I think what we’ve seen so far is no sign of demand disruption yet. Our customers have been really profitable over the last few years. And the good news is we are seeing signs of moderation in our production cost increases. So in our €“ from our perspective, that does point to, I would say, a reversion to the mean in terms of normal price increases year-over-year as we start to stabilize with respect to higher production costs.

Josh Jepsen: Yes. Maybe, John, one add I would throw in there is when we look at the impact of equipment on the P&L for customers is still a relatively small percentage. And I think important in that is it’s a relatively small percentage, and we’re actively focused on other parts of the P&L, how do we take cost out and how do we improve yield. I think that’s really important kind of to my previous comment on being able to do that is beneficial regardless of where end markets are or where commodity markets are. So that focus, the ability to do that over time that we think is differentiated. But as Brett mentioned, we do think as inflationary pressures abate, we will see prices come back into what we’ve seen in the past. Thanks, John.

Operator: Our next question comes from Tim Thein with Citigroup. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

Tim Thein: Yes. Thanks. Thanks and good morning. So just thinking about gross margins for the rest of the year relative to the 30% in the first quarter, the full year guidance only outlines just a marginal improvement. Obviously, you’ll have €“ you should have volumes at quite a bit higher kind of quarterly run rate from the first quarter. So what are the €“ I mean you talked about there is a lot of interplay between price and cost. But normally, just from kind of a seasonal perspective, we do see more of an improvement. So are there €“ but there is perhaps some mix benefits that may play through in PPA that helped the first quarter that won’t for the rest of the year or are there any other high-level thoughts you have on that, just as we think about, again, gross margins for the balance of the year? Thank you.

Brent Norwood: Hey, Tim, thanks for the question. With respect to gross margins, we would expect to see rest of year somewhat in line with what you saw in the first quarter. As Josh noted, we will have and put up the strongest price realization number in Q1. That will moderate a little bit as we go through the year. What offsets that, though, is our cost compares get more favorable. And so I think the dynamic between moderating price combined with better cost compares will sort of work to offset each other and keep our gross margins roughly in line with what you saw in the first quarter.

Josh Jepsen: Yes, Tim, I think that’s fair from a gross margin perspective. And if you think about just profitability overall, our operating margins, we do have higher R&D year-over-year. We’re investing at a record level of R&D. And I think that really speaks to our confidence and optimism and the value that we can create. That’s clearly not in the gross margins. But as you think about operating margins, we do see that higher year-over-year and probably higher rest of the year than compared to 1Q. Thanks, Tim. Go ahead €“ go to our next question.

Operator: Our next question comes from Stephen Volkmann with Jefferies. Go ahead please. Your line is open.

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