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3M's (MMM) Q3 Earnings Beat, '22 View Slashed on Forex Woes

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3M Company’s (MMM - Free Report) third-quarter 2022 adjusted earnings (excluding $4.08 from non-recurring items) of $2.69 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.61. The bottom line increased year over year.

3M’s net sales of $8,619 million missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8,698.8 million and declined approximately 4% year over year due to 1% negative impact from divestitures and 5% from foreign currency translation due to a stronger U.S. dollar. Organic sales increased 2% year over year despite a 1.4 percentage point impact from the decline in disposable respirator demand.

Region-wise, sales in the Americas increased 1.1% year over year, while that in the Asia Pacific declined 6%. Sales from business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region declined 13.4%.

3M Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

3M Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

3M Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | 3M Company Quote

Segmental Results

The company reports top-line results under four business segments — Safety & Industrial, Transportation & Electronics, Health Care and Consumer.

Revenues from Safety and Industrial totaled $2,894 million, decreasing 3.7% year over year. The decline was attributable to a 5.4% negative impact from movements in foreign currencies, partially offset by a 1.7% increase in organic sales.

Revenues from Transportation & Electronics totaled $2,239 million, reflecting a year-over-year decrease of 3.8%. The decline was attributable to 6% adverse impact from movements in foreign currencies, partially offset by 3% increase in organic sales.

Revenues from Health Care were $2,076 million, down 4.5% year over year. The results benefited from a positive impact of 1.7% from organic sales, partially offset by a 4.8% negative impact from movements in foreign currencies.

Revenues from Consumer dipped 1.7% year over year to $1,409 million. Organic sales increased 1.5%. Movements in foreign currencies had a negative impact of 3.2%.

Margin Profile

In the quarter under review, 3M’s cost of sales decreased 2.6% year over year to $4,728 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses climbed 9.8% to $1,998 million. Research, development and related expenses declined 4.4% to $461 million.

The company’s adjusted operating income in the quarter dipped 1.6% year over year to $1,855 million. Adjusted operating margin was 21.5% compared with 21.1% in the year-ago quarter. The adjusted tax rate in the quarter was 16.2% compared with 18.5% in the year-ago quarter.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

Exiting the third quarter, 3M had cash and cash equivalents of $3,404 million compared with $4,564 million at the end of December 2021. Long-term debt was $13,849 million at the end of the third quarter compared with $16,056 million at the end of December 2021.

In the first nine months of 2022, the company generated net cash of $3,669 million from its operating activities, reflecting a decrease of 32.7% from the year-ago quarter. Capital used for purchasing property, plant and equipment increased 18.7% to $1,243 million at the end of the first nine months of 2022.

Adjusted free cash flow at the end of the third quarter was $3,040 million, down 35.2% year over year. Adjusted free cash flow conversion was 68% at the end of the same period.

In the first nine months of 2022, 3M rewarded its shareholders with dividend payments of $2,550 million, down roughly 1% year over year.

2022 Outlook Lowered

3M has reduced its full-year forecast due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar and the uncertainty surrounding the economy. The company now expects sales to decline 3-3.5% year over year in 2022 compared with the prior prediction of a decrease of 0.5-2.5%.

The company expects organic sales growth of 1.5-2% in the year compared with 1.5-3.5% expected earlier. Divestitures are expected to hurt sales by 0.5% now (previously- no impact was estimated). Foreign currency translation is expected to impact sales by 4.5% in 2022 compared with 4% anticipated earlier.

3M expects adjusted earnings of $10.10-$10.35 for 2022 compared with $10.30-$10.80 estimated earlier. Operating cash flow is expected to be $6.8-$7.4 billion, which is equivalent to an adjusted free cash flow conversion of 85-95%.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

3M currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked companies are discussed below:

Enerpac Tool Group (EPAC - Free Report) presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company pulled off a trailing four quarter earnings surprise of 3.4%, on average. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks.

Enerpac Tool has an estimated earnings growth rate of 44.6% for the current fiscal year. Shares of the company have gained 22.9% in the past six months.

iRobot (IRBT - Free Report) presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company delivered a trailing four quarter earnings surprise of 59.1%, on average.

iRobot has an estimated earnings growth rate of 36.6% for the current year. Shares of the company have rallied 13.8% in the past six months.


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