Quite a few analysts working at Wall Street have predicted that the stocks of MMM would be posting an EPS of $2.19 for the present quarter. According to reports, three of the investment analysts have already commented on the estimates of the earnings of the company. The range has been fixed from $2.12 to $2.28. Interestingly, the firm did post an EPS of $1.95 just the previous year, so this implies a positive annual growth rate of about 12.3%. Also, MMM will be posting its next quarterly report on the 26th of January.
The Quarterly Earnings of MMM
The stocks of MMM posted their previous quarterly report on the 1st of November. The EPS reported by the company for this quarter was around $2.43, which was more than the EPS recorded at $2.26. The revenue earned by the company for the period was $8.35 billion, which was slightly less than the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. The net margin for 3M was 15.65%, with the return on its equity fixed at a solid 44.77%.
There have been several research firms that have been interested in the shares of MMM. Gordon Haskett has gone ahead and increased the shares of the company from a rating of underperform to a rating of hold. The company has also fixed up a price target of $170 on the stocks in a 7th October research report.
TheStreet has also gone the same route, with a rating increased from c+ to b which was issued in a 27th October research note. Morgan Stanley also decided to up the target price from $176 to $188, which they promptly noted in a 12th January report. JPMorgan Chase & Co also increased the price objective on the firm from $159 to $170, with a neutral rating.
Interestingly, two of the investment analysts covering the stocks of MMM gave it a rating of sell, while nine of them provided it with a rating of hold. Two others gave it a rating of buy. MMM has a hold rating with a $173 price target attached to it.
