What Happened?
Shares of industrial conglomerate 3M (NYSE: MMM) jumped 8.3% in the afternoon session after the company reported impressive first quarter 2025 results which blew past analysts' revenue and EPS expectations. Sales rose slightly from last year, with solid gains in the US and China, though parts of Europe and the electronics market pulled overall growth down. Margins improved, too and this helped drive a significant growth in earnings. For the rest of the year, the company expected earnings to grow significantly, even though new tariffs were likely to take a small bite out of profits. Overall, this quarter had some key positives.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
3M’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 5 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 9 months ago when the stock gained 17.6% on the news that the company reported strong second-quarter 2024 earnings. 3M beat analysts' revenue, operating profit, and EPS expectations. That the company raised full year EPS guidance was also a great sign. Overall, this was a really good quarter that should please shareholders.
3M is up 5.3% since the beginning of the year, but at $136.62 per share, it is still trading 11.9% below its 52-week high of $155.12 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of 3M’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $951.08.
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