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3M (MMM) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, 3M (MMM - Free Report) closed at $173.56, marking a +0.12% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.17%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.03%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.32%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of Post-it notes, industrial coatings and ceramics had gained 4.51% in the past month. In that same time, the Conglomerates sector gained 2.87%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.07%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MMM as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.04, down 21.24% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $8.04 billion, down 4.18% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $9.31 per share and revenue of $32.24 billion, which would represent changes of -10.99% and -1.6%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for MMM. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.78% lower. MMM is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

In terms of valuation, MMM is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 18.61. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.51, which means MMM is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that MMM has a PEG ratio of 1.83 right now. 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. The Diversified Operations industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.84 as of yesterday's close.

The Diversified Operations industry is part of the Conglomerates sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 85, which puts it in the top 34% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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