3M Delivers Strong Earnings—Again. The Stock Is Up.

Coming into the week, 3M stock was up about 18% so far this year. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

Key Points

• 3M reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.19 on $6.3 billion in sales, exceeding Wall Street expectations.
• The company raised its full-year 2025 adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $7.95 to $8.05, up from $7.75 to $8.
• Adjusted sales increased 3.2% year over year, with comparable sales in 2025 expected to grow by more than 2%.

3M stock gained Tuesday after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings. It was another solid report for the recovering company.

The manufacturer posted adjusted earnings per share of $2.19 from adjusted sales of $6.3 billion. Wall Street had forecast earnings of $2.07 from sales of $6.3 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Full-year 2025 earnings guidance was raised to a range of $7.95 to $8.05 from $7.75 to $8.

3M stock closed at $166.64, up 7.7%. The S&P 500 finished flat, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%.

Guidance could have given investors some pause. The new range implied fourth-quarter earnings per share of about $1.75. Wall Street is projecting closer to $1.85. Still, a conservative guide isn’t all that surprising, and the quarterly numbers look solid. The 3M turnaround story looks to be picking up momentum.

Adjusted sales grew 3.2% year over year. Sales growth has been a struggle for 3M lately. In the first quarter of 2024, organic sales grew by about 1%. That was the first positive reading in four quarters. Comparable sales grew about 1% in 2024. 3M expects comparable sales in 2025 to advance by more than 2%.

Growth is coming despite some headwinds. “European and housing markets remain weak,” wrote BofA Securities analyst Andrew Obin in a preview report. Still, he’s bullish on 3M shares, rating them Buy with a $170 price target. “We view 3M as an idiosyncratic self-help story.”

That means the stock can work, regardless of what is happening to the overall market. Obin expects cost-cutting to drive better margins.

Improved margins are one goal of CEO Bill Brown, who assumed the post in May 2024, just as 3M cut its quarterly dividend to 70 cents per quarter from $1.51 per quarter.

Rising legal liabilities from so-called forever chemicals that 3M produced and that ended up in water supplies were one reason for the cut. In 2024, 3M agreed to spend billions to help clean up water, helping investors understand the size of the liability.

That helped improve investor sentiment. Coming into the week, 3M stock was up about 18% this year, about five percentage points ahead of the S&P 500. Still, shares are off almost 30% from highs reached in 2018.

It has been a long road back for the company, but investors have felt more optimistic lately.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com