There is a lot going on a 3M these days, including some big legal settlements. Investors and Wall Street have reacted by essentially avoiding the stock. 3M could change investor sentiment when it reports third-quarter earnings Tuesday morning.
Coming out of the second-quarter report, 3M was expected to generate full-year earnings per share of between $8.60 and $9.10. That left between $4.46 and $4.96 a share for the second half of 2023, up from the $4.14 reported in the first half. Since the end of the second quarter, 3M agreed to settle claims related to potentially faulty earplugs sold to the government for about $6 billion. That settlement, along with a June settlement related to chemicals produced by 3M and others that were found in groundwater, has led to a couple of Wall Street upgrades.