Based on the aggregated intelligence of 150,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, farm equipment maker Deere (NYSE: DE) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Deere's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Deere facts

Headquarters (Founded)

Moline, Ill. (1837)

Market Cap

$25.2 billion

Industry

Construction, farm machinery, heavy trucks

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$22.8 billion

Management

CEO Samuel Allen (since 2009)
CFO James Field (since 2009)

Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)

23.4%

Cash / Debt

$3.4 billion / $24.8 billion

Dividend Yield

1.9%

Competitors

Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT)
CNH Global (NYSE: CNH)
Kubota (NYSE: KUB)

Other Highly Rated Heavy Equipment Stocks

Manitowoc (NYSE: MTW)
Joy Global (Nasdaq: JOYG)
Bucyrus International (Nasdaq: BUCY)

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 97% of the 635 All-Star members who have rated Deere believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include FreeMortal and TSIF, both of whom are ranked in the top 10% of our community.

Last month, FreeMortal tapped Deere as a good bet to keep leaping forward:

It appears that this recovery is for real. It has persevered through too many negative events in the past few months. We have climbed the wall of worry.

Big green John Deere is more than just tractors, combines, and farming equipment. They make plenty of yellow monsters as well. The world will need them.

In a pitch from last week, TSIF kindly updated Fools on some of the stock's latest news. Here's an excerpt:

Citing higher soybean and pulp prices and expanded corn plantings, Deere expects that a strong farmer will result in strong equipment spending. Deere is also working to sell their Wind Business for approximately $1 Billion. The spike in share price sent Deere to a new high and up 70% for the year. Analyst upgrades followed. ... Expect Deere to have erratic swings, but overall, the worst looks behind them. Margins are modest. Debt is tough to peg as they continuously put out their quarterly numbers with large "column adjustments". 2% dividend is reasonable.

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