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

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The latest trading session saw 3M (MMM - Free Report) ending at $105.32, denoting a +0.5% adjustment from its last day's close. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.57%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.83%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.39%.

The maker of Post-it notes, industrial coatings and ceramics's shares have seen an increase of 14.85% over the last month, surpassing the Conglomerates sector's gain of 5.14% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.97%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of 3M in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect 3M to post earnings of $2.11 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 7.11%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $7.77 billion, down 3.22% from the year-ago period.

MMM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $9.77 per share and revenue of $32.52 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +5.74% and -0.5%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for 3M. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. 3M presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, 3M is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.73. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 18.38.

Also, we should mention that MMM has a PEG ratio of 1.48. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. MMM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.21 as of yesterday's close.

The Diversified Operations industry is part of the Conglomerates sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 44, placing it within the top 18% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow MMM in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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