The company's businesses are organized, managed, and internally grouped into segments based on similarities in products and services. Segment selection is based on the manner in which management organizes segments for making operating and investment decisions and assessing performance. The company has identified nine operating segments and has aggregated those segments into three reportable segments: Professional, Residential, and Distribution. The aggregation of the company's segments is based on the segments having the following similarities: economic characteristics, types of products and services, types of production processes, type or class of customers and method of distribution. The company's Distribution segment, which consists of a wholly owned domestic distributorship, has been combined with the company's corporate activities and elimination of intersegment revenues and expenses and is shown as "Other" due to the insignificance of the segment.

The Professional business segment consists of turf and landscape equipment, snow and ice management equipment, and irrigation products. Turf and landscape equipment products include sports fields and grounds maintenance equipment, golf course mowing and maintenance equipment, landscape contractor mowing equipment, landscape creation and renovation equipment, rental and specialty construction equipment, and other maintenance equipment. Snow and ice management equipment products include snowplows, salt and sand spreaders, and related parts and accessories for light and medium duty trucks, UTVs, skid steers, and front-end loaders. Irrigation products consist of sprinkler heads, electric and hydraulic valves, controllers, computer irrigation central control systems, coupling systems, and micro-irrigation drip tape and hose products, as well as professionally installed lighting products offered through distributors and landscape contractors that also purchase irrigation products. Professional business segment products are sold mainly through a network of distributors and dealers to professional users engaged in maintaining golf courses, sports fields, municipal properties, agricultural fields, residential and commercial landscapes, and removing snow and ice, as well as directly to government customers, rental companies, and large retailers.

The Residential business segment consists of walk power mowers, riding mowers, snow throwers, replacement parts, and home solutions products, including trimmers, blowers, blower-vacuums, and underground and hose-end retail irrigation products sold in Australia. Residential business segment products are sold to homeowners through a network of distributors and dealers, and through a broad array of home centers, hardware retailers, and mass retailers, as well as online.

The Other segment consists of the company's Distribution segment and corporate activities and elimination of intersegment revenues and expenses. Corporate activities include general corporate expenditures (finance, human resources, legal, information services, public relations, and similar activities) and other unallocated corporate assets and liabilities, such as corporate facilities, parts inventory, and deferred tax assets and liabilities.

The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in the summary of significant accounting policies in Note 1. The company evaluates the performance of its Professional and Residential business segment results based on earnings from operations plus other income, net. Operating loss for the Other segment includes earnings (loss) from the company's domestic wholly owned distribution company, corporate activities, other income, and interest expense. The business segment's operating profits or losses include direct costs incurred at the segment's operating level plus allocated expenses, such as profit sharing and manufacturing expenses. The allocated expenses represent costs that these operations would have incurred otherwise, but do not include general corporate expenses, interest expense, and income taxes. The company accounts for intersegment gross sales at current market prices.

The following tables present summarized financial information concerning the company's reportable segments:



Fiscal Year Ended October 31, 2017	Professional		Residential		Other			Total
Net sales	$	1,811,705	$	673,247	$	20,224		$	2,505,176
Intersegment gross sales	27,893		332		(28,225		)	—
Earnings (loss) before income taxes	379,496		74,704		(101,016		)	353,184
Total assets	836,600		189,578		467,609			1,493,787
Capital expenditures	29,786		10,605		17,885			58,276
Depreciation and amortization	$	41,313	$	10,308	$	13,365		$	64,986



Fiscal Year Ended October 31, 2016	Professional		Residential		Other			Total
Net sales	$	1,705,312	$	669,131	$	17,732		$	2,392,175
Intersegment gross sales	28,138		354		(28,492		)	—
Earnings (loss) before income taxes	352,060		73,691		(95,291		)	330,460
Total assets	774,762		188,920		420,890			1,384,572
Capital expenditures	27,296		13,794		9,633			50,723
Depreciation and amortization	$	40,715	$	10,406	$	12,976		$	64,097



Fiscal Year Ended October 31, 2015	Professional		Residential		Other			Total
Net sales	$	1,639,659	$	725,682	$	25,534		$	2,390,875
Intersegment gross sales	45,634		406		(46,040		)	—
Earnings (loss) before income taxes	308,010		84,956		(101,935		)	291,031
Total assets	805,686		217,093		277,650			1,300,429
Capital expenditures	29,016		9,953		17,405			56,374
Depreciation and amortization	$	42,799	$	9,131	$	11,213		$	63,143

The following table presents the details of the Other segment operating loss before income taxes:



Fiscal Years Ended October 31	2017			2016			2015
Corporate expenses	$	(100,928	)	$	(95,288	)	$	(95,167	)
Interest expense	(19,113		)	(19,336		)	(18,757		)
Other income	19,025			19,333			11,989
Total operating loss	$	(101,016	)	$	(95,291	)	$	(101,935	)

The following table presents net sales for groups of similar products and services:



Fiscal Years Ended October 31	2017		2016		2015
Equipment	$	2,060,354	$	2,001,150	$	2,004,274
Irrigation and lighting	444,822		391,025		386,601
Total net sales	$	2,505,176	$	2,392,175	$	2,390,875

Sales to one customer in the Residential segment accounted for 10 percent of total consolidated gross sales in fiscal 2017 and 11 percent of total consolidated gross sales in fiscal 2016 and 2015.

Geographic Data

The following geographic area data includes net sales based on product shipment destination and long-lived assets, which consist of net property, plant, and equipment, and is based on physical location in addition to allocated capital tooling from U.S. plant facilities:



Fiscal Years Ended October 31	United States		Foreign Countries		Total
2017
Net sales	$	1,893,249	$	611,927	$	2,505,176
Long-lived assets	$	194,338	$	40,892	$	235,230
2016
Net sales	$	1,812,587	$	579,588	$	2,392,175
Long-lived assets	$	188,869	$	33,169	$	222,038
2015
Net sales	$	1,780,240	$	610,635	$	2,390,875
Long-lived assets	$	190,262	$	34,733	$	224,995