shares of deere  co de powered up 39 in premarket trading friday after the maker of agricultural construction and forestry equipment reported fiscal secondquarter results that beat expectations by wide margins with particular strength in its production and precision agriculture business net income for the quarter to april 30 rose to 286 billion or 965 a share from 210 billion or 681 a share in the yearago period that was well above the factset consensus for earnings per share of 858 sales grew 30 to 1739 billion to beat the factset consensus of 1489 billion as production and precision agriculture sales jumped 53 small agriculture and turf sales increased 16 and construction and forestry sales rose 23 all three business segments delivered higher shipment volumes and higher prices “as shown by the company’s outstanding secondquarter results deere continues to benefit from favorable market conditions and an improving operating environment” said chief executive officer john may the stock has dropped 136 year to date through thursday while the sp 500 spx has gained 93