Why Deere & Company (DE) is Among the Best Agriculture Stocks to Buy Right Now

We recently published a list of 10 Best Agriculture Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) stands against other best agriculture stocks to buy now.

Tariff Crisis in the US Agricultural Sector

On April 28, CNBC reported that while other US sectors are nearing what President Trump’s Treasury secretary Scott Bessent calls “an unsustainable tariff war”, the American farming sector has started to bear the effects of the economic crisis, with the damage already done. American agricultural exporters believe that the global backlash to tariffs imposed by Trump is punishing them, especially through a decrease in Chinese purchasing of US products. This trend is resulting in canceled export orders and layoffs.

Data from the US Department of Agriculture shows that China canceled its biggest pork orders since 2020, stopping the shipment of 12,000 tons of pork. CNBC reported that Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC), a leading export trade group for farmers, opined that calling the number of canceled orders of US agricultural products could not be called “approaching a crisis”, as “it is a full-blown crisis already.”

AgTC also reported that its members are experiencing “massive” financial losses because of the trade war, based on the reports sent by member companies. A wood pulp and paperboard reported to AgTC the hold or immediate cancellation of 6,400 metric tons in a warehouse. It said that 9,000 metric tons of the product are already on their way to China through water, with the estimated arrival time being May 13. Chinese buyers may refuse to accept these shipments and abandon them at the port, which is why the threat of costly diversion to Chinese or other bonded warehouses looms over the journey.

READ ALSO: Recession Resistant Investing: 10 Best Grocery Stocks To Buy Now and 11 Most Promising Future Stocks According to Hedge Funds.

Markets Unable to Replace China’s Demand

China-to-US vessel traffic has also seen a steep decline. CNBC reported that according to the Vizion Global Ocean Bookings Tracker, the traffic is down 22.15% week-over-week and 44% year-over-year through April 14. Ben Tracy, Vizion’s vice president of strategic business development, said the following about the situation:

“What we’ve seen in the last two weeks is a continued correction in booking demand for US imports, especially US imports from China. We are now seeing this translate to a drop in departures as well.”

Agricultural exporters opined that no other global markets hold the potential to swiftly replace China’s demand and absorb the volume. These trends are already affecting operations and prices. CNBC reported that a lumber exporter told AgTC that some products have already fallen 20% in market value, which will likely impact future investments and inventory planning.

“The U.S. market was stable and improving, but now awash with inventory of former China products,” it said. “We have diverted employees and production to other (less profitable) production and dramatically slowed down purchasing from independent vendors (loggers, truckers, sawmills).”

Our Methodology

We sifted through stock screeners, financial media reports, and ETFs to compile a list of 30 agriculture stocks and chose the top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds. We sourced the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey’s database. The list is ordered in ascending order of the number of hedge funds as of fiscal Q4 2024.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 57

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) manufactures and distributes equipment used in agriculture, forestry, turf care, and construction. Its operations are divided into Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services.

In a report released on April 16, Morgan Stanley analyst Angel Castillo maintained a Buy rating on Deere & Company (NYSE:DE). The firm raised its price target on the stock to $500 from $450, keeping an Overweight rating on the shares. Morgan Stanley told investors in a research note that the rating changes reflect the “dynamic macro backdrop,” based on an updated risk/reward analysis, demand conditions, and tariff risks.

In another report released on April 14, Adam Seiden from Barclays maintained a Buy rating on Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) and set a price target of $475.00.

Argus also expressed positive sentiments for the company, raising the firm’s price target on the stock to $510 from $440 with a Buy rating. The analyst expects solid earnings power for Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) later in 2025, supported by events such as resuming shipments to distributors, restarting rate cuts by the Fed, and increasing profitability for farmers.

Overall, DE ranks 1st on our list of best agriculture stocks to buy according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential for 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 time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than DE but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.