The stock of 3M (MMM) is up 7% after the company behind Post-it notes reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
For the year’s first quarter, 3M reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.39 U.S. and revenues of $7.7 billion U.S. Sales were down 0.3% from a year earlier.
Analysts had been looking for a profit of $2.10 U.S. a share and revenue of $7.6 billion U.S.
The latest results include numbers for the recently spun off healthcare business, Solventum (SOLV), which became its own publicly traded company on April 1 of this year.
The results come amid a busy time for 3M. In addition to the Solventum spinoff, the company finalized two major legal settlements, agreeing to pay $10.3 billion U.S. to address chemical spills in drinking water and $6 billion U.S. to resolve lawsuits related to its military earplugs.
The company is also replacing its longtime chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Roman on May 1. Bill Brown, the former CEO of L3Harris Technologies (LHX), will succeed Mike Roman at 3M.
3M said sales declines in its safety, industrial and consumer businesses were offset by growth in its transportation, electronics, and healthcare units.
Heading into the Q1 print, there were some concerns among shareholders that 3M was going to cut its dividend payment after raising it for 64 consecutive years.
The stock’s current dividend yield of 6.55% is more than four times higher than the average among S&P 500-listed companies of 1.44%.
3M chose to push out the decision on its dividend, saying the second-quarter distribution will be declared in May of this year.
Prior to today (April 30), the stock of 3M had increased 4% in the last 12 months to trade at $92.16 U.S. per share.
