3M stock: buy or sell?
Updated on:
September 20th, 2019
2
3M Company operates as a diversified technology company worldwide. The company's Industrial segment offers tapes; coated, non-woven, and bonded abrasives; adhesives; ceramics; sealants; specialty materials; purification products; closure systems for personal hygiene products; acoustic systems products; automotive components; and abrasion-resistant films, and paint finishing and detailing products.
Should I buy 3M stock?
Trading stocks requires experience and discipline, and your buying and selling decisions must come following a methodology. Having a trading strategy helps to make decisions easier, quicker and with less hesitations. There are thousands of trading strategies for you to choose, but at Stocks2.com we prefer those that are simple but successful.None of our preferred buy setups matches with 3M stock situation right now, therefore this is not a suitable entry point.
| Buy setup | Elegible |
|---|---|
| New all-time high | No |
| New 52 week high | No |
| Price crossing up 200d MA | No |
| 100d MA crossing up 200d MA | No |
Is 3M stock a buy?
Financial institutions and banks publish stock ratings everyday.
At Stocks2.com, we detected 15 ratings published for MMM stock in the last month. The general sentiment of these ratings is bearish for MMM stock, with 5 negative ratings.| Date | Analyst / Broker | Previous rating | Current rating |
| 2019-8-6 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | n/a | Underweight |
| 2019-7-29 | Morgan Stanley | n/a | Equal Weight |
| 2019-7-26 | Credit Suisse Group | n/a | Outperform |
| 2019-7-26 | Credit Suisse Group | n/a | Outperform |
| 2019-7-12 | UBS Group | Neutral | Neutral |
| 2019-6-6 | Barclays | n/a | Sell |
| 2019-6-3 | Citigroup | n/a | Buy |
| 2019-6-27 | Bank of America | n/a | Neutral |
| 2019-5-24 | Morgan Stanley | n/a | Equal Weight |
| 2019-5-17 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | n/a | Underweight |
| 2019-5-17 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | n/a | Underweight |
| 2019-4-3 | Barclays | Underweight | Underweight |
| 2019-4-26 | Morgan Stanley | n/a | Hold |
| 2019-4-26 | Deutsche Bank | Hold | Hold |
| 2019-4-26 | Deutsche Bank | Hold | Hold |
3M stock analysis
Daily outlook
3M ended today at $166.83 and stayed steady a tight -0.14%.
3M stayed steady a tight -0.14% and closed at $166.83. MMM is retaking the upward trend marking a new rising bottom heading to break out over $172.48.
Weekly outlook
3M ended this week at $166.83 and slipped a fateful -2.69%.
3M is in a glaring downtrend, marking consecutive declining peaks and bottoms. Now is trading in between the - range. If the support holds the price, this might mark a double bottom configuration and create a flat-base to reverse this downtrend. Since late April, when MMM stock price broke down the 40-weeks moving avarage line, it slid $-48.23 per share (-22.43%). Stocks below the 200 days moving average line are usually not recommended for average traders.
3M stock price history
3M stock historical price chart
MMM stock reached 52-week highs on April at $215.91, and all-time highs 2018-01-26 with a price of 246.93.
3M stock price target is $175.10
Nobody can reliably foresee how stock prices may evolve in the future. However, financial institutions invest time and resources to provide the most accurated estimations to help investors to make their decisions. You should not follow the analysts' MMM stock price predictions in the hope that they will be met as they may be wrong and not met. We have 15 price predictions for MMM stock released in the last month:| Date | Analyst / Broker | Action | Previous target | Current target | Diff |
| 2019-8-6 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Lowers Target | $143.00 | $140.00 | -2.1% |
| 2019-7-29 | Morgan Stanley | Raises Target | $172.00 | $177.00 | 2.9% |
| 2019-7-26 | Credit Suisse Group | Reiterates | $180.00 | $194.00 | 7.8% |
| 2019-7-26 | Credit Suisse Group | Raises Target | $180.00 | $194.00 | 7.8% |
| 2019-7-12 | UBS Group | Lowers Target | $201.00 | $182.00 | -9.5% |
| 2019-6-6 | Barclays | Reiterates | n/a | $162.00 | - |
| 2019-6-3 | Citigroup | Reiterates | $221.00 | $197.00 | -10.9% |
| 2019-6-27 | Bank of America | Lowers Target | $193.00 | $185.00 | -4.1% |
| 2019-5-24 | Morgan Stanley | Lowers Target | $184.00 | $172.00 | -6.5% |
| 2019-5-17 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Reiterates | $154.00 | $143.00 | -7.1% |
| 2019-5-17 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Lowers Target | $154.00 | $143.00 | -7.1% |
| 2019-4-3 | Barclays | Lowers Target | $189.00 | $188.00 | -0.5% |
| 2019-4-26 | Morgan Stanley | Set Price Target | n/a | $184.00 | - |
| 2019-4-26 | Deutsche Bank | Set Price Target | $188.00 | $183.00 | -2.7% |
| 2019-4-26 | Deutsche Bank | Lowers Target | $188.00 | $183.00 | -2.7% |
| (in average) | $180.50 | $175.10 | -3.0% |
Financials and fundamental analysis
Earnings date and Earnings per Share
Since April, when 3M posted its last earnings report, it . Unfortunately, reported EPS is not yet available in our database.| Quarter | Reporting date | Estimated EPS | Actual EPS | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-Q2 | - | n/a | 2.03 | n/a |
| 2017-Q3 | 2017-10-24 | 2.21 | 2.33 | 5.4% |
| 2017-Q4 | 2018-01-25 | 2.02 | n/a | n/a |
| 2018-Q1 | 2018-04-24 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0.0% |
| 2018-Q2 | 2018-07-24 | 2.59 | 2.59 | 0.0% |
| 2018-Q3 | 2018-10-23 | 2.7 | 2.58 | -4.4% |
| 2018-Q4 | 2019-01-29 | 2.27 | 2.31 | 1.8% |
| 2019-Q1 | 2019-04-25 | 2.57 | n/a | n/a |
| 2019-Q2 | - | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 2019-Q3 | - | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Annual financial results
In 2018, 3M annual turnover raised a good 3.50% to $32,765.00 million USD from $31,657.00 marked in 2017. Nonetheless, its income margin (compared to sales) stayed constant to 16.33%, that is $5,349.00 million. To have an up to date view of the financial situation of 3M, we have calculated the trailing twelve month (TTM) sales and income figures. TTM values are the sum of the last 4 quarters and aproximate to an annual fiscal report ending in 2019-Q1 that can be compared to 2018 fiscal year results. Annual 3M TTM sales up to March 2019 were $32,350.00 and income was $5,638.00 million dollars. When comparing this TTM figures with the last reported annuality, we can review 3M business evolution since December 2018: Annual sales up to March, compared to lastest yearly report, decreased an ugly -1.27%. Regarding profit margin, 3M grew 1.10% to 16.33%| Year | Sales | YoY | Income/(margin) | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | $30,870 M | - | $4,660 M15.1% | - |
| 2014 | $31,821 M | 3.08% | $4,956 M15.6% | 6.35% |
| 2015 | $30,274 M | -4.86% | $4,833 M16.0% | -2.48% |
| 2016 | $30,109 M | -0.55% | $5,050 M16.8% | 4.49% |
| 2017 | $31,657 M | 5.14% | $4,858 M15.3% | -3.80% |
| 2018 | $32,765 M | 3.50% | $5,349 M16.3% | 10.11% |
| TTM | $32,350 M | -1.27% | $5,638 M17.4% | 5.40% |
Quarterly financial results
3M reported $7,863.00 million in revenues for 2019-Q1, a -1.03% less compared to previous quarter. Reported quarter earnings marked $891.00 million with a profit margin of 11.33%. Profit margin dropped a -5.62% compared to previous quarter when profit margin was 16.95%. When comparing revenues to same quarter last year, 3M sales marked a fateful drop down and slipped a -5.01%. Looking back to recent quarterly results, 3M posted 3 positive quarters in a row.| Quarter | Sales1 | QoQ2 | Income1/(margin) | QoQ2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-Q2 | $7,810 M | - | $1,580 M20.2% | - |
| 2017-Q3 | $8,170 M | 4.61% | $1,430 M17.5% | -9.49% |
| 2017-Q4 | $7,990 M | -2.20% | $523 M6.5% | -63.43% |
| 2018-Q1 | $8,278 M | 3.60% | $602 M7.3% | 15.11% |
| 2018-Q2 | $8,390 M | 1.35% | $1,857 M22.1% | 208.47% |
| 2018-Q3 | $8,152 M | -2.84% | $1,543 M18.9% | -16.91% |
| 2018-Q4 | $7,945 M | -2.54% | $1,347 M17.0% | -12.70% |
| 2019-Q1 | $7,863 M | -1.03% | $891 M11.3% | -33.85% |
3M ownership
When you are planning to invest in a company, it's worth to check its ownership structure.Management staff in all public traded companies that hold equity is required to report every transaction to the SEC. For 3M, 7.74% of all outstanding shares are owned by its staff.
In case of 3M stock, 10.48% of its shares are held by institutions (mutual funds, pension funds, big banks and other large financial institutions). Bearish positions for MMM stock account 0.00%, no big difference from last month.
For a better understanding, the next table shows ownership data compared to other related stocks:
| MMM | ALGN | AMZN | DHR | GE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $96.0 B | $14.4 B | $901.0 B | $104.6 B | $82.2 B |
| Total shares | 575.3 M | 79.9 M | 494.7 M | 717.4 M | 8,730.0 M |
| Float shares | 574.4 M | 73.3 M | 416.2 M | 636.3 M | 8,710.0 M |
| - Institutional holdings (%) | 10.5% | 84.4% | 57.1% | 79.9% | 58.6% |
| - Insider holdings (%) | 7.7% | 8.9% | 16.1% | 11.4% | 0.2% |
| Shares in short selling | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
3M summary
| Friday, September 20th, 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Open | $167.43 |
| Close | $166.83 |
| Day range | $166.50 - $169.14 |
| Previous close | $167.07 |
| Session gain | -0.14% |
| Average true range | $3.34 |
| 50d mov avg | $166.21 |
| 100d mov avg | $167.47 |
| 200d mov avg | $182.61 |
| Daily pattern | lb02a |
| Weekly pattern | lt02a |
3M performance
To measure stock performance is always good to benchmark with competitors or related stocks. In the following table, we compare 3M performance to Align Technology, Amazon.com, Danaher, General Electric, Honeywell International, HP, Illinois Tool Works, Johnson Controls International, and DENTSPLY SIRONA:| Stock | 3m | 6m | 12m |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMM3M | -2.88% | -17.03% | -20.43% |
| ALGNAlign Technology | -36.39% | -33.11% | -52.64% |
| AMZNAmazon.com | -4.70% | 3.21% | -4.88% |
| DHRDanaher | 1.53% | 12.67% | 35.61% |
| GEGeneral Electric | -9.94% | -5.42% | -19.14% |
| HONHoneywell Interna... | -3.86% | 8.07% | 6.15% |
| HPQHP | -8.67% | -1.42% | -25.03% |
| ITWIllinois Tool Wor... | 3.28% | 11.56% | 8.06% |
| JCIJohnson Controls ... | 10.46% | 23.37% | 22.45% |
| JNJ | -7.74% | -3.60% | -6.42% |
| XRAYDENTSPLY SIRONA | -15.12% | 1.67% | 29.78% |
3M competitors
We selected a few stocks to conform a list of 3M competitors to check if you are interested in investing in MMM:- Align Technology (ALGN)
- Amazon.com (AMZN)
- Danaher (DHR)
- General Electric (GE)
- Honeywell International (HON)
- HP (HPQ)
- Illinois Tool Works (ITW)
- Johnson Controls International (JCI)
- (JNJ)
- DENTSPLY SIRONA (XRAY)
Latest 3M stock news
- InvestorPlaceThe 3% Yield for 3M Stock Makes It an Attractive Value BuyJuly 23, 2019
- InvestorPlaceWhy 3M Stock Is UntouchableJuly 22, 2019
- InvestorPlaceAhead of Next Week’s Earnings, Should Investors Buy 3M Stock Into Weakness?July 19, 2019
- InvestorPlace3 Things to Consider Before Becoming a 3M Stock ContrarianJuly 12, 2019
- InvestorPlace3M Stock Is More Than Just a Dividend DarlingJuly 10, 2019