Prediction: 3M Will Reward Patient Investors
3M‘s (NYSE: MMM) turnaround under Chief Executive Officer Bill Brown continues, and the latest results for the industrial company confirm operational progress even as it battles some uneven end markets. There’s a value case for buying the stock, but investors might need to be patient before it becomes fully apparent. Here’s why.
The recent third-quarter earnings report saw management upgrade its full-year 2026 outlook for adjusted earnings per share to $9.10-$9.15 from $8.80-$8.95, while maintaining organic sales growth forecast to rise more than 3.5%. The growth may not sound like much, but consider that the cadence of 3M’s organic year-over-year sales growth by quarter this year will be 1.2%, 2.3%, 3.3%, and then a bit more than 4% in the fourth quarter to hit the target.
Moreover, the accelerating growth has come in a year of mixed end markets for the company. We already knew, from industrial supplier Fastenal’s results, that the heavy equipment, data centers, aerospace, and machine products sectors were improving in 2026, with some weakness in the automotive sector. Those themes played out in 3M’s third quarter, with consumer electronics also adding to automotive weakness.
Source: www.fool.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.