Buffett's Berkshire Firm Takes a Stake in Deere

By CnAgri Print

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed it had taken a stake in Deere & Co. and other companies that represent "basic" industries. Farm Equipment magazine reports that in addition to Deere, the firm also purchased new stakes in Precision Castparts, a leading manufacturer of complex investment castings for aircraft engine, industrial gas turbine, airframe, and other applications. Buffett bought into WABCO, a maker of commercial vehicle braking, stability, suspension and transmission control systems.

While buying into leading industrial companies, Berkshire reduce consumer products stocks including Practer & Gamble, Kraft, VISA and Johnson & Johnson.

A report in Businessweek quotes Eli Lustgarten, an analyst for Longbow Research in Independence, Ohio, as saying Deere may benefit in coming decades as farmers seek to boost yields to feed a surging population.

Deere, which reports fourth-quarter results next week, advanced 0.7% to $85.35 in extended trading yesterday in New York after Berkshire's filing was released.

Berkshire held 3.98 million shares of the Moline, Illinois- based company at the end of the third quarter.