3M still has appeal

Article Excerpt

3M COMPANY $144 remains a buy. The company (New York symbol MMM; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 569.2 million; Market cap: $82.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.3m.com) produces more than 60,000 consumer and industrial goods. 3M recently set aside 150 million euros (about $160.5 million U.S.) to clean up the release of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from its operations in Belgium. If you exclude that charge and other one-time items, the company earned $1.52 billion in the three months ended March 31, 2022. That’s down 11.8% from $1.73 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings declined 10.2%, to $2.65 from $2.95. Sales in the quarter fell 0.2%, to $8.83 billion from $8.85 billion. If you adjust for businesses it bought and sold and currency rates, sales improved 1.7%. 3M’s current restructuring plan should cut $250 million from its annual costs by the end of 2022. Those savings will help offset rising raw material…