Rising costs weigh on 3M

Article Excerpt

3M COMPANY $173 is still a buy. The company (New York symbol MMM; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 576.3 million; Market cap: $99.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.3m.com) produces more than 60,000 consumer and industrial goods. Despite COVID-19-related disruptions to its supply chains, 3M now expects its sales for all of 2021 will rise between 8% and 9%. That’s better than its earlier forecast for 6% to 9% growth. However, higher costs for raw materials will cut its projected earnings for all of 2021 by between $0.80 and $0.90 a share. Even so, this year’s projected earnings per share will still likely rise 12.1% to $9.80. The stock trades at a reasonable 17.7 times that forecast. The $5.92 dividend is safe and yields a solid 3.4%. 3M is a buy. buy…