Latest news with #FarmBill
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Deere & Company (DE): A Bull Case Theory
We came across a bullish thesis on Deere & Company (DE) on Best Anchor Stocks' Substack. In this article, we will summarize the bulls' thesis on DE. Deere & Company (DE)'s share was trading at $507.99 as of 28th May. DE's trailing and forward P/E were 24.54 and 27.62 respectively according to Yahoo Finance. Pixabay/Public Domain Deere & Company recently posted impressive quarterly results, beating both revenue and EPS expectations by double digits, with EPS surprises averaging 16% across nine of the last ten quarters. Despite being a cyclical business, Deere continues to outperform due to structurally higher profitability that the market may still be underestimating. The standout this quarter was an 18% operating margin—only 200 bps below levels seen when revenues were 19% higher—highlighting robust cost controls and favorable mix, even as the company remains near a cycle trough. Management maintained full-year margin guidance at 14.5%, despite strong results, citing cautious expectations around tariff impacts in H2. Deere is forecasting a return to sales growth in Q4 for the first time in nine quarters, hinting that the bottom of the ag cycle may already be behind us. Potential catalysts include a new Farm Bill and trade deals that could further support demand. Meanwhile, Deere continues aggressive buybacks—$2.4 billion over the past year—reducing share count by 4%, setting the company up for strong EPS growth driven by higher margins, revenue recovery, and fewer outstanding shares. On the call, management highlighted growing tariff headwinds, mostly affecting its construction division, but also emphasized long-term U.S. investment and a competitive edge via Deere's captive financing arm. Technologically, Deere is expanding its ag tech stack into construction and growing its SaaS footprint, with adoption and renewal rates supporting a long-term shift to recurring revenue. Despite trading near all-time highs, Deere's strong fundamentals, margin resilience, and tech leadership suggest continued upside, with Brazil as a growing tailwind. For a comprehensive analysis of another standout stock covered by the same author, we recommend reading our summary of their bullish thesis on Danaher Corporation (DNH). Deere & Company (DE) is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 53 hedge fund portfolios held DE at the end of the first quarter which was 57 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of DE as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than DE but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
From the Farm: Illinois Corn Grower testifies on new Farm Bill
WASHINGTON D.C. (WCIA) — A congressional consideration of a new Farm Bill is moving from the House to the Senate. One of the staff members of the Illinois Corn Growers' Association was one of the witnesses at a recent Senate hearing. From the Farm: Illinois wheat yields and looming elections Megan Dwyer, the Director of Conservation Programs and Nutrient Management Issues, was asked by the top Democrat on the Senate Ag Committee to offer her thoughts about what conservation policy should be included in the Farm Bill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trade policy, getting a farm bill passed are top of mind for Kansas rancher, K-State professor
Hal Luthi, a third-generation rancher in Madison, Kansas, is anxious to see politicians in Washington, D.C., get a farm bill passed. (Submitted) TOPEKA — Kansas farmers and ranchers are paying close attention to tariffs and whether other countries will show up for negotiations, and they need a Farm Bill to pass in Washington, two agricultural experts said. Alan Featherstone, head of the Agricultural Economics department at Kansas State University, and Hal Luthi, president of the Kansas Cattlemen's Association and a third-generation rancher in Madison, both spend part of their days studying what's happening in Washington. Everything there has an effect on Kansas agriculture, Featherstone said, rattling off a quick list: trade policy, energy policy, interest rates, passage of a Farm Bill, crop and livestock insurance and tax policies. 'There's just so much uncertainty in the air until Congress and the president begin to resolve some of those policy differences,' he said. 'You compound that with the fact that most of Kansas agriculture did not have good years in 2023, 2024 — most of the income, at least on crop operations, came through government payments,' he said. 'I would suspect once the Kansas Farm Management numbers are released that roughly 50% or more of income came from' government payments. 'Probably the only thing that is going well right now is the cow-calf operations; even the feeder operations are struggling,' Featherstone said. Uncertainty is difficult but Luthi is focused more on whether or not a Farm Bill will move on. 'The ineptitude of our federal government to pass a new Farm Bill is certainly adding to all this because, well, we're heavy users of the livestock risk insurance, and we don't know what the future of that program is,' he said. 'So if we'd had the Farm Bill enacted when it should have been, well, that would certainly have alleviated a lot of the concerns people have.' But uncertainty in general, Luthi added, is something farmers are used to. 'We kind of operate on an almost daily basis of uncertainty out here in the countryside anyway, because we don't know if it's going to rain,' he said. 'We don't know what world events are going to affect our markets.' International trade is an important part of the Kansas agricultural economy, Luthi said. 'China has been a big purchaser of our soybeans and corn,' he said. 'But also I think that that's a two-handed approach. I feel like maybe they need us as bad as we need them, and at some point in time we're going to come together and come to an agreement.' Featherstone, whose work is often focused on international markets, said China imported about $1.5 billion of U.S. beef. 'To give an indication of that, the U.S. exported $8.5 billion, and so if you take 1.5 divided by 8.5 that's a pretty big percentage in terms of where that market is,' he said. 'Certainly the ability to export into the China markets is very, very important. If you look at pork it's probably less of an issue now, but two or three years ago, it was substantially different when they were fighting their Asian swine flu.' Featherstone said Luthi's point about China needing U.S. agriculture products is important. 'A lot of times we look at this from the U.S. perspective, but you also have to look at it from the Chinese perspective,' he said. 'For example, on the soybean market, they cannot import all of their soybeans without coming to the U.S. They take about 60% of the world's market.' Chinese consumers expect to have soybeans and pork available and that will put pressure on the country's government to keep trade flowing, Featherstone said. It's not all about tariffs, either, he said. Economists often will look at a 'naive' view of trade as in a free market, which assumes no taxes or tariffs. 'That's not the world we live in,' he said. 'I think it's very important to realize that you're in a negotiation here where we're not going from zero tariffs to a 10% tariff. We're in a situation where tariffs are already affecting the ability to trade. But in other cases, some of the non-tariff barriers are even bigger.' Those barriers include whether other countries will accept the use of technology the United States uses or if it could cause product bans, Featherstone said. He pointed to an announcement two weeks ago between the U.S. and Great Britain that lowered tariffs. 'My guess is that the Trump administration will back off the tariffs if they're not getting the negotiations,' Featherstone said. 'One is a hard-line view that you're just going to tariff, and that's going to be the situation as we move forward. The other is can we use these tariffs to bring countries to the table?' U.S. agricultural products did see a long-term impact from tariffs put in place by Trump during his first term, Featherstone said. 'China became more reliant on Brazil, and so certainly some of those markets are lost, but a lot of times they will shift,' he said. 'Probably the big thing that I think will occur, and you hear a little bit of discussion of it with the first trade war with China, there was the market facilitation program that essentially tried to provide the difference in price back to the producers.' While disagreements occur about subsidizing agriculture and farmers prefer to get their income from the markets, Featherstone said another program like that could help Kansas agriculture. Farmers received $23 billion to subsidize lost business because of tariffs during Trump's first administration. 'My guess, and I'm not a crystal ball economist, but politicians, if there's something that worked in the past, they may try it again if it's needed in the future,' he said. Luthi said tariffs can bring other countries to the negotiating table. He appreciates the fact that discussions are happening. 'We're pretty resilient,' he said. 'People are saying, 'Well, you know, we may get hurt a little bit, but if it's for the good of the country in the long term, we're willing to take that punch in the face.' And that's my feeling as well.' Luthi said the country's current path of adding to the national debt is not sustainable, and that he hears more people in the rural areas talking about that issue than about tariffs and how they might be affected. 'A lot of these tariffs aren't even in effect yet, right? Some of them don't go into effect 'til July,' he said. 'In reality, we hope maybe some of them don't ever go in place, that we have a new trade agreement or a more fair trade agreement before these tariffs are actually placed on the actual products.' The rapid-fire changes happening nationally and internationally do make it challenging to plan, Luthi said. That's especially true because spending has dropped and a recession may loom. 'We're gonna probably cut spending in several areas, and wait and see, you know, just what our actual opportunities are,' Luthi said. 'If we need a new piece of equipment, we may delay that a year. We'll certainly budget everything out and probably stand a little more conservative than we did this year.' The cattle business has been profitable recently, but the two previous years were tight, he said. 'I guess my biggest concern, maybe, is the country as whole would go into a recession because everybody's cutting back on their spending and that would affect the beef market, probably in a hurry, because that's one expense that people would probably tend to cut back on first,' he said. Featherstone said he thinks people need to be watchful because so much depends on whether negotiations are successful in getting other countries to the table. 'Farmers are resilient,' he said. 'I think there are things to be resolved, but again, elections have consequences.' For Luthi, uncertainty is part of his world. 'I don't know if we're ever in certain times, you know,' he said. 'You know, God has a plan for this world, and we're just here to utilize and enjoy it as long as we can.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas lawmakers move to ban legal THC, hemp amid medical marijuana expansion
Texas lawmakers have passed a ban on nonmedical sales of THC, the intoxicating ingredient in cannabis, sending the measure to Gov. Greg Abbott (R). 'If it gets you high, it is not legal anymore' state Rep. Tom Oliverson (R), who sponsored the House bill, told The Dallas Morning News. In passing the ban, Texas joins a wide array of states, including Colorado, Iowa, Arizona, Hawaii and Alaska, that have banned or restricted intoxicating forms of hemp, or the compounds derived from it. It comes alongside a push by Texas Republicans to significantly expand the state's medical marijuana program. Under the new ban, possession of hemp products now carries a dramatically stricter penalty than possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) had threatened to hold up the state's ability to pass a budget if the House didn't pass S.B. 3, the companion legislation in the Senate. 'We cannot in good conscience leave Austin without banning THC,' Patrick said in a video posted on Monday. 'I've been here for 17 years at the Texas Capitol — 10 years as your lieutenant governor. I've never been more passionate about anything,' he added. If signed into law, the bill would represent a 'minor earthquake for the state's economy,' the Texas Tribune reported. A study funded by the Texas hemp industry found that the hemp business generates more than $5 billion in revenue and employs more than 53,000 workers, at an average of about $40,000 per year. The Texas Hemp Business Council, which had fought for security measures such as age verification and child-resistant packaging instead of a ban, vowed to sue over the bill, which it said 'dismantles the legal hemp industry.' Since 2019, Texas has been at the forefront of a national experiment in back-door cannabis legalization, after the Legislature passed a bill legalizing 'consumable hemp,' as opposed to the industrial variety used for fiber. That bill followed the 2018 passage of the Farm Bill by the all-Republican caucus. The language of that bill inadvertently laid the foundation for cannabis legalization across the country — provided it was called hemp, rather than marijuana, which is still illegal in Texas for nonmedical use. The law, however, created no guardrails, regulation or safety testing for the new industry that sprung up — something exacerbated by the Food and Drug Administration's refusal to meaningfully regulate hemp-based foods and beverages. Six years later, with pre-rolled joints and THC-infused drinks available at sleek dispensaries and run-down gas stations in the state, many conservative legislators now view that loophole as a mistake. 'What began in 2019 as a bipartisan effort to support Texas agriculture has since been hijacked by a cottage industry of unregulated THC sellers,' Oliverson said, per the Texas Tribune. For medical marijuana providers in Texas and elsewhere, the hemp industry is a wild-west competitor — not subject to the strict safety testing, sales limits or security controls that govern legal marijuana. As such, many of the states that preceded Texas in banning hemp — like Alaska, California and Colorado — have tightly regulated legal recreational and medical marijuana programs, for whom the hemp industry is a wild-west competitor. Texas's small medical cannabis industry has supported of restrictions on hemp, which its leaders say threaten to drive them out of business — and that corner of the industry stands to win big this session. In addition to a ban on its gray-market competitors, new legislation likely to pass this session would widen the number of covered conditions that can be treated with marijuana in Texas, and create licenses for nearly a dozen new dispensaries across the state. But unlike in Colorado or California, recreational users in Texas will be largely out of luck — or will turn to the black market, state Democrats argued. While bill opponents acknowledged the problem of an unregulated industry, they argued that the solution was to make sure the widespread demand for THC was met safely. 'Bans don't work,' said Dallas-area state Rep. Rafael Anchía, (D). 'We'll return to a completely unregulated black market where these products will find their way to young people today. If anybody's to blame about the state of affairs, it's us, in underregulating this marketplace.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Texas lawmakers move to ban legal THC, hemp amid medical marijuana expansion
Texas lawmakers have passed a ban on non-medical sales of THC, the intoxicating ingredient in cannabis, sending the measure to Gov. Greg Abbott (R). 'If it gets you high, it is not legal anymore' state Rep. Tom Oliverson (R), who sponsored the House bill, told the Dallas Morning News. In passing the ban, Texas joins a wide array of states, including Colorado, Iowa, Arizona, Hawaii and Alaska, that have banned or heavily restricted intoxicating forms of hemp, or the compounds derived from it. It comes alongside a push by Texas Republicans to significantly expand the state's medical marijauna program. Under the new ban, possession of hemp products now carries a dramatically stricter penalty than possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) had threatened to hold up the state's ability to pass a budget if the House didn't pass S.B. 3, the companion legislation in the Senate. 'We cannot in good conscious leave Austin without banning THC,' Patrick said in a video posted on Monday. 'I've been here for 17 years at the Texas Capitol — 10 years as your lieutenant governor. I've never been more passionate about anything,' he added. If signed into law, the bill would represent a 'minor earthquake for the state's economy,' the Texas Tribune reported. A study funded by the Texas hemp industry found that the hemp business generates more than $5 billion in revenue and employs more than 53,000 workers, at an average of about $40,000 per year. The Texas Hemp Business Council, which had fought for security measures such as age verification and child-resistant packaging instead of a ban, vowed to sue over the bill, which it said 'dismantles the legal hemp industry.' Since 2019, Texas has been at the forefront of a national experiment in back-door cannabis legalization, after the legislature passed a bill legalizing 'consumable hemp,' as opposed to the industrial variety used for fiber. That bill followed the 2018 passage of the Farm Bill by an the all-Republican caucus. The language of that bill inadvertently laid the foundation for cannabis legalization across the country — provided it was called hemp, rather than marijuana, which is still illegal in Texas for non-medical use. The law, however, created no guardrails, regulation or safety testing for the new industry that sprung up — something exacerbated by the Food and Drug Administration's refusal to meaningfully regulate hemp-based foods and beverages. Six years later, with pre-rolled joints and THC-infused drinks available at sleek dispensaries and run-down gas stations in the state, many conservative legislators now view that loophole as a mistake. 'What began in 2019 as a bipartisan effort to support Texas agriculture has since been hijacked by a cottage industry of unregulated THC sellers,' Oliverson said, per the Texas Tribune. For medical marijuana providers in Texas and elsewhere, the hemp industry is a wild-west competitor — not subject to the strict safety testing, sales limits or security controls that govern legal marijuana. As such, many of the states that preceded Texas in banning hemp — like Alaska, California and Colordao — have tightly regulated legal recreational and medical marijuana programs, for whom the hemp industry is a wild-west competitor. Texas's small medical cannabis industry has supported of restrictions on hemp, which its leaders say threaten to drive them out of business — and that corner of the industry stands to win big this session. In addition to a ban on its gray-market competitors, new legislation likely to pass this session would widen the number of covered conditions that can be treated with marijuana in Texas, and create licenses for nearly a dozen new dispensaries across the state. But unlike in Colorado or California, recreational users in Texas will be largely out of luck — or will turn to the black market, state Democrats argued. While bill opponents acknowledged the problem of an unregulated industry, they argued that the solution was to make sure the widespread demand for THC was met safely. 'Bans don't work,' said Dallas-area state Rep. Rafael Anchía, (D). 'We'll return to a completely unregulated black market where these products will find their way to young people today. If anybody's to blame about the state of affairs, it's us, in underregulating this marketplace.'
