Earnings Bling: Diamonds and Tractors Show Strength (TIF, COH, DE, CAT, MCD)

Tiffany’s shares are up nearly 5% this morning, while Deere’s shares are only up a negligible 0.13%. The difference is in the forecasts. Tiffany raised its full-year EPS target from $2.72 to $2.77, the third time this year that the company has boosted its outlook.

Deere, however, sees EPS in its 2011 fiscal year of about $4.92, far below previous expectations of $5.23. The company said that North American farmers would be transitioning to new equipment to meet lower emissions standards and that South American sales may not grow following a strong 2010. But it seems like a transition to new equipment would generate better sales in North America. Maybe Deere is just aiming low but expecting better.

In a related story, heavy equipment maker Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE: CAT) has issued its first yuan-denominated medium term notes on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company issued 2% notes maturing in 2012 worth 1 billion yuan, or about $150 million.

The Caterpillar debt is being offered at a full percentage point below an earlier bond offered by McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), and should attract a lot of investors. The issuance of yuan-denominated debt in Hong Kong is a bet that that the Chinese will allow the currency to appreciate and, even better, allows the issuing company to avoid the capital controls being imposed on mainland offerings.

Paul Ausick