Deere & Co. have reported net income of $498.5 million for the first quarter ended January 27th 2019 compared with a net loss of $535.1 million for the quarter ended January 28th 2018.

Affecting first quarter 2018 results were charges to the provision for income taxes due to U.S. tax reform legislation. Without these tax reform charges, first-quarter 2018 net income results would have been $442.1 million.

The manufacturer has also reported that net sales were up 16% to $6.94 billion. Forecast for 2019 calls for net income of approximately $3.6 billion on sales gain of about 7%. 

In a statement, Samuel R. Allen, chairman and chief executive officer said, “Although Deere has continued to make solid progress on a number of fronts and reported higher earnings for the quarter, our results were hurt by higher costs for raw materials and logistics as well by customer concerns over tariffs and trade policies.

"These latter issues have weighed on market sentiment and caused farmers to become more cautious about making major purchases. At the same time, sales of John Deere construction and forestry machinery have continued at a strong pace. We believe cost pressures should abate as the year progresses and are hopeful we will soon have more clarity around trade issues.

"As a result, we remain cautiously optimistic about our prospects for the year ahead.”