Industrial conglomerate 3M (NYSE: MMM) will be announcing earnings results this Tuesday before market hours. Here’s what investors should know.
3M beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 0.9% last quarter, reporting revenues of $6.16 billion, up 2.3% year on year. It was a strong quarter for the company, with full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations and an impressive beat of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.
Is 3M a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.
This quarter, analysts are expecting 3M’s revenue to grow 3.1% year on year to $6.25 billion, improving from the 1.5% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.07 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. 3M has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates three times over the last two years.
Looking at 3M’s peers in the industrial machinery segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Worthington delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 18%, beating analysts’ expectations by 1.4%, and Snap-on reported revenues up 3.6%, topping estimates by 2.7%. Worthington traded down 11.6% following the results while Snap-on was up 2.2%.
Read our full analysis of Worthington’s results here and Snap-on’s results here.
Investors in the industrial machinery segment have had steady hands going into earnings, with share prices flat over the last month. 3M’s stock price was unchanged during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $163.44 (compared to the current share price of $153).
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