3M Profit Dips but Reaffirms Forecast as Demand Holds -- Update

Published: 2026-04-21 09:10:39 ET MMM

Published on 04/21/2026 at 09:10 am EDT

By Rob Curran

3M reaffirmed its full-year guidance, betting that rebounding demand for industrial products and office supplies will outweigh one-off charges that squeezed its first-quarter bottom line.

Shares of the St. Paul, Minn., manufacturing giant recently slid 3.2% to $146.50 in premarket trading on Tuesday.

3M said first-quarter earnings totaled $653 million, or $1.23 a share, down from $1.12 billion, or $2.04 a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-off items, such as the costs associated with settlements on its production of PFAS--per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or forever chemicals--3M logged adjusted earnings of $2.14 a share, topping the Wall Street estimate of $1.98 a share, as per FactSet.

First-quarter sales rose 1.3% to $6.03 billion, edging past the average Wall Street target of $6.01 billion, as tallied by FactSet.

"We had a good start to the year, and despite operating in a volatile environment, we remain confident in achieving our 2026 guidance while staying committed to our long-term strategy--investing in growth, driving operational performance, and returning cash to shareholders," 3M Chairman and Chief Executive William Brown said.

3M reiterated 2026 per-share adjusted earnings projection in a range between $8.50 and $8.70 a share, compared with the average analyst target of $8.65 a share.

The diversified manufacturer also backed its adjusted sales-growth projection of 4% for the year. The company continues to anticipate organic sales growth, excluding acquisitions and other skew factors, of about 3%. For 2025, 3M logged adjusted sales of $24.3 billion.

3M previously projected faster revenue growth for 2026 after closing out the fourth quarter with an uptick in sales, but said tariffs weren't embedded into the outlook.

Write to Rob Curran at [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-21-26 0909ET