Updating 3M Company, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Buckeye Partners L.P.

Article Excerpt

3M COMPANY $199 (www.3m.com) makes over 60,000 consumer and industrial goods, including Post-It notes, Scotch tape, Scotchguard fabric protection and Thinsulate insulation. The stock is down 14% since the start of 2018. That’s mainly because 3M warned that slowing demand for its products by automakers and consumer electronics companies will lower its sales growth in 2018. Rising interest rates have also diminished the appeal of dividend-paying stocks. 3M now trades at 18.9 times its projected 2018 earnings of $10.53 a share. That’s a reasonable multiple in light of its high market share and research spending. The $5.44 dividend yields 2.7%. #1 Income Buy. J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO. $112 (www.jpmorganchase.com) is the largest banking firm in the U.S. In the first quarter of 2018, earnings jumped 37.9%, to $8.2 billion from $6.0 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings jumped 43.6%, to $2.37 from $1.65. Those gains are partly due to recent U.S. tax cuts. Morgan’s earnings also benefitted from new accounting…