Deere posted higher profit and sales in its fiscal third quarter, as continued growth in the company's construction equipment business helped to offset ongoing weakness in its production agriculture segment.

The company posted a profit of $1.38 billion for its three months ended Aug. 2, compared with $1.29 billion in last year's comparable period. On a per-share basis, quarterly earnings of $5.10 a share topped the $4.69 a share that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Net sales and revenues climbed 6.2% to $11 billion, ahead of Wall Street models for $10.81 billion. The total top-line figure came in at $12.61 billion.

Sales across the company's production and precision agriculture division--its largest business unit--came in at $4 billion, down 6.4% from a year ago. The company attributed the decrease primarily to lower shipment volumes.

The decline was offset by construction and forestry sales, which jumped 18% to $3.62 billion, and small agriculture and turf sales, which rose 12% to $3.38 billion.

Chief Executive John May said Deere continues to believe 2026 will mark the bottom of the current agriculture equipment cycle.

"Across our business, early order program trends, improving used-equipment inventories, and increasing customer adoption of our advanced technologies give us confidence that Deere is well positioned for long-term value creation," he said.

Deere raised the low-end of its net income outlook to $4.75 billion from $5.0 billion, while maintaining the high end at $5 billion.

Shares rose 3.9%, to $603, in premarket trading Thursday.9