Free Annual Reports
3M Second Quarter Earnings Preview
Tickers in this Article »
MMM
3M (NYSE:MMM) is scheduled to announce its second quarter earnings on Thursday, July 26, 2012.
Investors care about earnings because they drive stock prices. Strong earnings generally result in the stock price moving up and vice versa. SEE: Earnings: Quality Means Everything
What to Expect: The consensus estimate for 3M's earnings is $1.65 per share, up 3.1% from a year ago when the company reported earnings of $1.60 per share.
The consensus estimate has fallen over the past month, down from $1.66, while still up from the consensus estimate of $1.64 three months ago. Analysts are projecting earnings of $6.41 per share for the fiscal year.
Revenue is expected to exceed last year's figure of $7.68 billion by 1.4% and come in at $7.79 billion for the quarter. For the fiscal year, expected revenue is $30.58 billion.
Company Performance: In the past four quarters, revenue has shown consistent growth. It increased 2.4% to $7.49 billion in the first quarter. Prior to that, the figure rose 5.7% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, 9.6% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year and 14.1% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year.
The company's earnings have been rising for the last eight quarters, and for the last four, net income has increased year-over-year by an average of 2.2%.
A company's price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio) provides a measure of how expensive or cheap a stock is. High P/E stocks could be "growth" stocks, while low PE stocks may be "value" stocks. SEE: Investment Valuation Ratios: Price/Earnings Ratio
Over the past quarter, the stock price has increased from $88.80 on April 25, 2012 to $89.99. 3M's worst recent stretch was when its stock price fell $3.62 per share between May 10, 2012 and May 18, 2012.
Investors care about earnings because they drive stock prices. Strong earnings generally result in the stock price moving up and vice versa. SEE: Earnings: Quality Means Everything
What to Expect: The consensus estimate for 3M's earnings is $1.65 per share, up 3.1% from a year ago when the company reported earnings of $1.60 per share.
The consensus estimate has fallen over the past month, down from $1.66, while still up from the consensus estimate of $1.64 three months ago. Analysts are projecting earnings of $6.41 per share for the fiscal year.
Revenue is expected to exceed last year's figure of $7.68 billion by 1.4% and come in at $7.79 billion for the quarter. For the fiscal year, expected revenue is $30.58 billion.
The company's earnings have been rising for the last eight quarters, and for the last four, net income has increased year-over-year by an average of 2.2%.
A company's price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio) provides a measure of how expensive or cheap a stock is. High P/E stocks could be "growth" stocks, while low PE stocks may be "value" stocks. SEE: Investment Valuation Ratios: Price/Earnings Ratio
Over the past quarter, the stock price has increased from $88.80 on April 25, 2012 to $89.99. 3M's worst recent stretch was when its stock price fell $3.62 per share between May 10, 2012 and May 18, 2012.
by
Investopedia Staff
Investopedia.com believes that individuals can excel at managing their financial affairs. As such, we strive to provide free educational content and tools to empower individual investors, including thousands of original and objective articles and tutorials on a wide variety of financial topics.
Free Annual Reports
