RTOB: How To Stop A Running DEERE ?

John Deere (DE), the $36 Billion public company known mostly for its international market-leading AGRICULTURAL equipment manufacturing unit, is up 56% over the past year and a JACKPOT 280% over the past five.

Got me thinking...in this time of UNPRECEDENTED growth (domestically and internationally), what, if anything, can STOP DE's RUN?

MAYBE it's the U.S. government's policy on foreign ethanol (Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of ethanol). To be more specific...DE could get slowed down if the U.S. federal government decided to REPEAL the import tariff on foreign-produced ethanol (currently $0.54 a gallon).

Why would the U.S. Government do such a thing? Because doing so could stimulate the economy by helping curb rising food prices (inflation) during already tough times for U.S. consumers. IF the Federal Reserve becomes sincere about curbing inflation then I believe there's a decent chance that this tariff gets THE BOOT. Maybe that's too forward-thinking for the current Bush administration...but if not them then there's still a decent chance this highly controversial tariff gets nixed by the NEW President in 2009.

As a result, if I sense the U.S. is EVEN close to repealing this tariff then I will immediately exit out of my DE position and give the stock some breathing room AND TIME to digest the news (might have some room to fall considering its up 300% in 5 years!).
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Some quick stats on DE:
*Marketcap: $36 Billion
*P/E: 19
*Forward 2008 P/E: 14
*2007 Sales: $24 Billion
*2007 Profits: $5.2 Billion

In Deere's latest reported quarter (Feb 13th), sales rose 18% while profits SPIKED 55% year over year. The company is also expecting a 17% increase in full year 2008 sales.

Full Disclosure: I own shares of DE.