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3M (MMM) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, 3M (MMM - Free Report) closed at $147.22, marking a +1.71% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.86%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.79%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.4%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of Post-it notes, industrial coatings and ceramics had lost 13.55% in the past month. In that same time, the Conglomerates sector lost 7.33%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.05%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from 3M as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect 3M to post earnings of $2.41 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 13%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $8.7 billion, down 1.69% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $10.43 per share and revenue of $36.15 billion, which would represent changes of +3.06% and +2.25%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for 3M should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.6% lower. 3M is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that 3M has a Forward P/E ratio of 13.87 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.25, so we one might conclude that 3M is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that MMM has a PEG ratio of 1.46. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. MMM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.42 as of yesterday's close.

The Diversified Operations industry is part of the Conglomerates sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 110, putting it in the top 44% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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