3M (MMM) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
3M (MMM) closed at $202.83 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.62% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.12%.
Coming into today, shares of the maker of Post-it notes, industrial coatings and ceramics had lost 0.5% in the past month. In that same time, the Conglomerates sector gained 2.11%, while the S&P 500 gained 3%.
MMM will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 27, 2021. On that day, MMM is projected to report earnings of $2.20 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 23.6%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $8.41 billion, up 17.26% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.78 per share and revenue of $34.99 billion. These totals would mark changes of +11.9% and +8.71%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for MMM. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. MMM is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Investors should also note MMM's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 20.41. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 20.84.
Meanwhile, MMM's PEG ratio is currently 2.15. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Diversified Operations stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.72 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Diversified Operations industry is part of the Conglomerates sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 82, putting it in the top 33% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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