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Major ClientsWide moat

Deere & Company (DE) — moat facet

Deere has no customer worth naming; its concentration is the North American farm economy, where 89% of its loans sit.

Deere has no major clients in the usual sense. Its 10-K contains no customer-concentration disclosure, and its finance arm reports "no disproportionate concentration of credit risk with any single customer or dealer"1. The buyers are millions of farmers, contractors and homeowners, reached through about 2,050 independent dealer locations in North America2 and dealers and distributors in over 100 countries3.

Deere financing receivables by location, fiscal 2025 year end (%)89U.S. and Canada11Rest of the worldDeere Form 10-K FY2025, financing receivables note
A North American lender behind a global manufacturer.

The four pages look at the client base from four angles. No Customer Worth Naming is the diversification. Dealers: The Buyers of Record is the channel, which buys on Deere's credit. Eighty-Nine Percent in Two Countries is the real concentration, which is economic rather than commercial. Backlog, Not Contracts checks revenue concentration against order concentration, as the standard requires, and finds they point in opposite directions.

The finance arm is the clearest window. Its financing receivables, $44,575 million at the fiscal 2025 year end4, are the customers' borrowings; 89% of them are in the U.S. and Canada5. When American farmers prosper, Deere sells more and lends more; when they struggle, both shrink, as financing receivables and leases did by $2,430 million in the first nine months of fiscal 20266.

Retail purchasers do not have to use Deere's bank. The 10-K notes that many of them finance "outside our organization"7, through banks and other lenders, which means the bank's share of Deere's own customers is a choice the customers make each time.

The client base is a wide moat in its dispersion and a single bet in its geography. Another year in which the business outside North America shrinks while the home market recovers would deepen the single bet rather than ease it.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

No concentration disclosure; 89% of financing receivables in the U.S. and Canada.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
U.S. and Canada share of financing receivables, fiscal year end
89% (FYE 2025)

The economic concentration behind a dispersed customer base; above 92% would mean a still narrower bet.

Source: Deere & Company Form 10-K, FY2025 ↗
Dig deeper
DIG DEEPER 01
No Customer Worth Naming
Deere has no customer large enough to disclose, and its lender says none is a disproportionate credit risk; the concentration is in the farm economy…
DIG DEEPER 02
Dealers: The Buyers of Record
Deere's real buyers are independent dealers who hold its machines on its own credit; it owed them $2.2 billion of incentives in August 2026.
DIG DEEPER 03
Eighty-Nine Percent in Two Countries
Deere earns 52.5% of revenue in the U.S. but holds 89% of its loans in the U.S. and Canada, so its real concentration is the North American farm…
DIG DEEPER 04
Backlog, Not Contracts
Deere's backlog fell in farming and rose 73% in construction in fiscal 2025, the opposite of where its revenue is concentrated.
References
  1. ReportedIts 10-K contains no customer-concentration disclosure, and its finance arm reports "no disproportionate concentration of credit risk with any single customer or dealer".
    Deere & Company Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 2 November 2025), $ millions - Item 1A risk factors and legal proceedings: the farm cycle, interest rates, tariffs, technology adoption, competition and the right-to-repair litigation. — FY2025 · publ. 18 December 2025 · source ↗
  2. ReportedThe buyers are millions of farmers, contractors and homeowners, reached through about 2,050 independent dealer locations in North America and dealers and distributors in over 100 countries.
    Deere & Company Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 2 November 2025), $ millions - Item 1 business: dealers, distribution, parts, used-equipment trade-ins, sales incentives and manufacturing. — FY2025 · publ. 18 December 2025 · source ↗
  3. ReportedThe buyers are millions of farmers, contractors and homeowners, reached through about 2,050 independent dealer locations in North America and dealers and distributors in over 100 countries.
    Deere & Company Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 2 November 2025), $ millions - Item 1 business: dealers, distribution, parts, used-equipment trade-ins, sales incentives and manufacturing. — FY2025 · publ. 18 December 2025 · source ↗
  4. ReportedIts financing receivables, $44,575 million at the fiscal 2025 year end, are the customers' borrowings; 89% of them are in the U.S. and Canada.
    Deere & Company Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 2 November 2025), $ millions - Financial Services: John Deere Capital Corporation, financing receivables, credit quality, interest-free periods, the support agreement and Banco John Deere. — FY2025 · publ. 18 December 2025 · source ↗
  5. ReportedIts financing receivables, $44,575 million at the fiscal 2025 year end, are the customers' borrowings; 89% of them are in the U.S. and Canada.
    Deere & Company Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 2 November 2025), $ millions - Financial Services: John Deere Capital Corporation, financing receivables, credit quality, interest-free periods, the support agreement and Banco John Deere. — FY2025 · publ. 18 December 2025 · source ↗
  6. ReportedWhen American farmers prosper, Deere sells more and lends more; when they struggle, both shrink, as financing receivables and leases did by $2,430 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2026.
    Deere & Company Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 2 August 2026, $ millions - balance sheet and key metrics: receivables, inventories, dealer incentives, financing receivables and the Banco John Deere exposure. — Q3 FY2026 · publ. 27 August 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedThe 10-K notes that many of them finance "outside our organization", through banks and other lenders, which means the bank's share of Deere's own customers is a choice the customers make each time.
    Deere & Company Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 2 November 2025), $ millions - Financial Services: John Deere Capital Corporation, financing receivables, credit quality, interest-free periods, the support agreement and Banco John Deere. — FY2025 · publ. 18 December 2025 · source ↗
Sources
Generated October 5, 2026