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3M (MMM) Advances While Market Declines: Some Information for Investors

The latest trading session saw 3M (MMM) ending at $132.15, denoting a +0.99% adjustment from its last day's close. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.16%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.09%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.3%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of Post-it notes, industrial coatings and ceramics had gained 4.77% over the past month, outpacing the Conglomerates sector's loss of 7.15% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.64% in that time.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of 3M in its upcoming release. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $1.92, showcasing a 28.36% downward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $6.09 billion, showing a 26.78% drop compared to the year-ago quarter.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.20 per share and revenue of $24.71 billion. These totals would mark changes of -22.08% and -24.4%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for 3M. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.14% downward. Right now, 3M possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, 3M is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 18.17. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.66, so one might conclude that 3M is trading at a discount comparatively.

Investors should also note that MMM has a PEG ratio of 2.42 right now. 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. The average PEG ratio for the Diversified Operations industry stood at 1.89 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Diversified Operations industry is part of the Conglomerates sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 94, finds itself in the top 38% echelons of all 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.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

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