3M Company Shares Dropped 7 Percent Premarket on Weak Results, Lukewarm Guidance

3M (MMM) shares fell 7.1% in pre-market trading today, on January 23, after the company gave lukewarm 2024 profit guidance. The company expects 2024 earnings per share, adjusted for one-time items, to be in a range of $9.35 to $9.75, compared with the consensus estimate of $9.82. Adjusted operating cash flow of $6.5 billion to $7.1 billion was also slightly below expectations.

3M makes a variety of products, from building materials and adhesives to medical and household cleaning products. The Safety and Industrial sectors traditionally generate the most sales and profits.

Overall, Q4 2023 non-GAAP earnings per share were $2.42, beating consensus estimate of $2.31 per share by $0.11. Revenue was $30 million lower than expectations of $7.69 billion (-0.3% YoY). As a result, Q4 revenue was still somewhat better than expected, falling less than 1% YoY, compared with the consensus estimate of $7.72 billion. At current exorbitant P/E, contrasting with the previous company's P/E (TTM) of (negative) -8.1 and the one at the end of 2022 being positive of 11.8, 3M company looks still struggling to get back on its feet after its Covid-era heydays.