3M Third-Quarter EPS of $2.50 Beats Estimates as Company Raises Full-Year Guidance to $9.10-$9.15 and Expands Amazon Data Center Deal
St. Paul, Minnesota — 3M reported third-quarter earnings per share of $2.50 from sales of $6.6 billion on Tuesday. Wall Street was looking for earnings per share of $2.38 from sales of $6.6 billion, according to Barron's; a year ago, 3M reported earnings per share of $2.19 from sales of $6.2 billion. Investor's Business Daily reported that 3M's revenue climbed nearly 5% to $6.584 billion, with earnings per share up 14% from a year earlier.
The company raised its full-year earnings guidance to a range of $9.10 to $9.15 a share, from a prior range of $8.80 to $8.95. Barron's said organic sales growth was 3.3% in the quarter. Reuters reported that cost-control initiatives and higher prices supported margins, while the safety and industrial business remained resilient; 3M launched 87 new products in the third quarter and expects to reach over 350 product launches by the end of the year.
On Monday, 3M announced an expanded strategic commercial relationship with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com to sell optical connectivity and other data center products. As part of the deal, 3M issued warrants letting Amazon buy up to 3,162,015 shares over seven years at $164.89 a share, according to an SEC filing; 85% of the shares will vest based on Amazon's data center product payments, with full vesting at $6 billion. 3M is also collaborating with Genius Electronic Optical on "expanded beam optics," a fiber optic connection technology.
3M stock rose 4.7% to $169.64 in early trading on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 was flat and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8%, Barron's reported. Bernstein analyst Varun Govindaraj said in a Tuesday report that the data center announcement with Amazon would likely offset any weakness from sales growth.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 3M 行政大楼（明尼苏达州）资料图。照片：McGhiever 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经维基共享资源。 / File photo: the 3M Administration Building in Minnesota. Photo by McGhiever, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
