John Deere as corporate punching bag

[charlie_B]

Here are the Iowa numbers if you want to look into it:

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) provides information on recent plant closings and covered mass layoffs in Iowa.

workforce.iowa.gov

Roughly 150 full time staff in Iowa let go.

Looks like they are letting some hourly workers go before the end of August in Dubuque.

 

[Cyclonsin]

100%. That why HR peeps freaking love them. Software is doing 95% of HR's screening work. A lot of really good people don't even get a look because they don't know how to play the wording game.

Pro tip: use AI to help write your cover letter. Saves a ton of time and AI tends to use the words the robots are looking for.

 

[AgronAlum]

Here is what I don't get: ag is highly cyclical. Everyone knows that, and JD certainly knows it. They knew this downturn in ag would eventually happen. With killer profits the past 3 years, they ought to be better prepared to weather a bad storm.

So why fire a bunch of talent if you are still projected to have the third highest net earnings in the past 5 years? $7 billion doesn't even seem like much of storm. More of a misty drizzle compared to 2023.

I did some napkin math. If the average employee costs them $200,000 per year, then they would need to let 5000 people go to increase net profits by $1 billion (never mind that the savings wont really kick in until 2025 after severance is paid). I get that a billion dollars is a billion dollars, but if that talent is good and you are still projected to make 7 billion, then why fire a bunch of people to bump profits up by just 14%?

I wonder if 2025 is projected to be much worse than that 7 billion for 2024. Net loss looming on the horizon?

H

The obsession with having indefinite growth and corporate execs whos incomes are tied to company growth and profit. They've showed they can, so it's what is expected. Deere also has something like 6.5 billion is cash holdings.

Also, the last union deal was signed in 2021. Anyone blaming it on the union wages is full of ****. Look at the net incomes since then.

 

[cyfan92]

I see a bad performing stock (versus the market), negative revenue growth, and $2-$3B of added inventory on the balance sheet... Why does the CEO still have a job?

It's laughable when I hear a manufacturing company like Deere talk about being a tech stock.

Over the last year, Deere is down 13% while Cat is up 33%.

 

[AuH2O]

You're still going to have a hard time beating JD salary and benefits in 2024. Recruiters contact me every week and the only company that I've seen that could match or beat them is Amazon.

This tends to be a requirement when you are known for hacking jobs, only to turn around and engage in a bunch of hiring blitzes later. On one hand, hiring and training are expensive. On the other hand, I would guess that Deere is considering the likelihood that commodity prices could be settling into a long-term level like they were around 2015-2021. If that's the case, Deere could be looking at years of softer demand.

 

[cyclone87]

Because all of these companies are thinking only on the next quarter or two, and how their actions will affect the price of the stock.

Everything is based on how to enrich the investment class, and we have put in place a system that the CEO and others at the top are being paid by how much they can continue to raise the price of the stock. This system is why stock buybacks have become so popular over the past couple of decades. With fewer stocks out for the public to purchase, the value of the remaining stock price goes up, which means larger dividend checks for the investors at the end of the quarter.

Agree, there needs to be changes. No more stock buy backs or a hefty tax on them to start.

 

[NATEizKING]

This tends to be a requirement when you are known for hacking jobs, only to turn around and engage in a bunch of hiring blitzes later. On one hand, hiring and training are expensive. On the other hand, I would guess that Deere is considering the likelihood that commodity prices could be settling into a long-term level like they were around 2015-2021. If that's the case, Deere could be looking at years of softer demand.

Employee dip for those years

 

[Clonehomer]

I see a bad performing stock (versus the market), negative revenue growth, and $2-$3B of added inventory on the balance sheet... Why does the CEO still have a job?

It's laughable when I hear a manufacturing company like Deere talk about being a tech stock.

Over the last year, Deere is down 13% while Cat is up 33%.

Not a ton of overlap in markets.

 

[NATEizKING]

I see a bad performing stock (versus the market), negative revenue growth, and $2-$3B of added inventory on the balance sheet... Why does the CEO still have a job?

It's laughable when I hear a manufacturing company like Deere talk about being a tech stock.

Over the last year, Deere is down 13% while Cat is up 33%.

Still averaging 17.28% gains over the past 5 years, which is when May started.

 

[AuH2O]

Still averaging 17.28% gains over the past 5 years, which is when May started.

Considering the sensitivity to grain prices, I'm not sure this is that incredible. The past five year period we basically saw start and end with $4 corn. In between there was one hell of a runup to $8, with sustained periods of $6 plus.

It will be interesting to see what their employment numbers look like IF we are in for a longer period of lower commodity prices with input prices still doing farmers no favors.

 

[BCClone]

Here is what I don't get: ag is highly cyclical. Everyone knows that, and JD certainly knows it. They knew this downturn in ag would eventually happen. With killer profits the past 3 years, they ought to be better prepared to weather a bad storm.

So why fire a bunch of talent if you are still projected to have the third highest net earnings in the past 5 years? $7 billion doesn't even seem like much of storm. More of a misty drizzle compared to 2023.

I did some napkin math. If the average employee costs them $200,000 per year, then they would need to let 5000 people go to increase net profits by $1 billion (never mind that the savings wont really kick in until 2025 after severance is paid). I get that a billion dollars is a billion dollars, but if that talent is good and you are still projected to make 7 billion, then why fire a bunch of people to bump profits up by just 14%?

I wonder if 2025 is projected to be much worse than that 7 billion for 2024. Net loss looming on the horizon?

H

Farmers change their buying the year after. Next year will be when this crap show hits the iron guys.

 

[Prone2Clone]

It's laughable when I hear a manufacturing company like Deere talk about being a tech stock.

Agree 100%. "We're a technology company."

Ummm...wut? You build equipment, some of which utilizes technology. You wouldn't be involved with the technology if you didn't have the equipment in the first place. Dorks.

 

[Pope]

Final number of laid off was just over 100.

May I ask how you know this?

 

[Turn2]

Agree 100%. "We're a technology company."

Ummm...wut? You build equipment, some of which utilizes technology. You wouldn't be involved with the technology if you didn't have the equipment in the first place. Dorks.

Yeah, in a world where everyone must stay up-to-date with evolving tech or risk perishing.

 

[NATEizKING]

May I ask how you know this?

John Deere cuts nearly 500 salaried jobs in Johnston, Dubuque, Waterloo and the Quad Cities

John Deere cuts nearly 500 salaried workers in Johnston, Dubuque, Waterloo and the Quad Cities, citing lower commodity prices, higher interest rates.

www.desmoinesregister.com

 

[SaraV]

I'd put it right there with attaching a resume only to enter all of the exact same resume information into their portal system when applying.

Imma gonna be that person:

On-line "resume" - what were you responsibilties in previous jobs (Ran the TPS reports, moved widget from drawer A to shelf B, etc.)
Attached resume - what were your accomplishments in those jobs. And if you basically did the same thing every day, tell 'em why you were the best person at doing said thing (Cut time in moving widgets by moving several at one time, found way to send TPS report directly to management once ran)
Cover letter - filling in the gaps with any of your soft skills

 

[Mr.G.Spot]

Not a ton of overlap in markets.

Cat also has its own internal leasing company. Huge profits from this entity. Hard to compare the two of them.

 

[dafarmer]

New updated slogan “ Nothing runs on a Deere”. Talk to mechanics who have to fix bugs in the new products.

 

[Pope]

John Deere cuts nearly 500 salaried jobs in Johnston, Dubuque, Waterloo and the Quad Cities

John Deere cuts nearly 500 salaried workers in Johnston, Dubuque, Waterloo and the Quad Cities, citing lower commodity prices, higher interest rates.

www.desmoinesregister.com

Thanks for sharing this, but I'm trying to determine how many salaried staff were cut from the Ankeny plant. This article doesn't answer that question.

 

[NATEizKING]

Thanks for sharing this, but I'm trying to determine how many salaried staff were cut from the Ankeny plant. This article doesn't answer that question.

No cuts in Ankeny.