That translates to $3 a share, above the $2.56 that Wall Street, on average, was expecting. Though the company cited such things as positive currency exchange rates for the increase, the real driver behind the revised outlook, Deere executives said, was fundamental -- sales, and especially sales of the company's core product in its core market: farm equipment in North America. The company said it now expects its total revenue in 2010 to increase by 6% to 8% from the $20.8 billion it booked in the prior year. The outlook overshadowed a huge earnings beat for Deere. Profit in the fiscal first quarter came to 57 cents a share, destroying the Wall Street consensus target of 19 cents a share, according to a poll of analysts by Thomson Reuters. Sell-side analysts mostly reacted to the news with an outpouring of praise. Almost begrudgingly, Sterne Agee analyst Larry De Maria upgraded Deere's stock to buy from neutral.