3M Company Rises 22.3% YTD: Should You Buy the Stock Now or Wait?
MMM Outperforms the Industry, S&P 500 & Peers
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Closing at $157.85 in the last trading session, the stock is trading below its 52-week high of $164.15 but significantly higher than its 52-week low of $121.98. 3M stock is trading above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, indicating solid upward momentum and price stability. This reflects a positive market sentiment and confidence in the company's financial health and long-term prospects.The company's impressive performance has largely been driven by its strong foothold and improving conditions in the transportation, industrial adhesives, aerospace, defense and electrical markets.
MMM Stock Trading Above 50-Day & 200-Day Moving Averages
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What's Behind 3M Stock's Momentum?
The strongest driver of 3M's business at the moment is solid momentum in the Safety and Industrial segment, driven by strength in personal safety, roofing granules, industrial adhesives and tapes, abrasives and electrical markets.Stable demand for electrical infrastructure products like medium voltage cable accessories and insulation tapes augurs well for the segment in the quarters ahead. Also, an increase in demand for industrial and electronics bonding solutions bodes well for it. The segment's organic sales improved 2.5% year over year in the first six months of 2025.The Transportation and Electronics segment has also been witnessing positive momentum, cushioned by strength in the transportation and aerospace end markets. Solid momentum in the electronics, aerospace and defense, personal auto and commercial graphics markets, driven by demand for new products and expanding sales coverage, is proving beneficial for the segment.The segment's adjusted organic revenues grew 1% in the second quarter. Backed by strength across its businesses, the company provided a positive outlook. For 2025, it expects total adjusted organic sales to grow 2% on a year-over-year basis.3M has also been undertaking structural reorganization actions to reduce the size of its corporate center, streamline its geographic footprint, simplify the supply chain and optimize manufacturing roles to align with production volumes. It expects these actions to be completed by 2025 and yield annual pre-tax savings. In the first six months of 2025, these actions, together with strong organic volume and productivity, raised 3M's adjusted operating margin by 250 basis points year over year to 24%.MMM remains focused on rewarding its shareholders through dividend payouts and share buybacks. In the first six months of 2025, it used $786 million in paying out dividends and $2.2 billion in buybacks. Also, in 2024, it paid dividends worth $2 billion and repurchased shares for $1.8 billion. In February 2025, the quarterly dividend was hiked by 4%.
MMM's Near-Term Concerns
Weakness in the consumer retail end markets, owing to subdued consumer discretionary spending, remains a concern. This is reflected in the Consumer segment's results, which remained relatively flat in the first half of 2025. There was a particular weakness in the packaging expression business. Also, persistent weakness in the automotive OEM business, due to low auto build rates, particularly in Europe and the US, is concerning for 3M.Exiting second-quarter 2025, 3M's long-term debt was high at $12.5 billion, reflecting an increase of 1.6% sequentially. Also, interest expenses in the first half of the year remained high at $492 million. Its short-term borrowings and current portion of long-term debt totaled $669 million. 3M's long-term debt-to-capital ratio is currently pegged at 74.1%, significantly higher than the industry's 54%. High debt levels, if not controlled, can increase financial obligations and prove detrimental to profitability in the quarters ahead.The company has also been subject to several litigations, including earplug lawsuits. It has committed substantial funds to resolve these disputes, as ongoing litigation might lead to additional expenses.
Valuation Remains an Overhang
MMM is trading at a premium to industry peers with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 19.29X. The current valuation is above its five-year median of 15.98X and has surpassed the broader industry's multiple of 16.40X. While its peer, Carlisle, is trading cheaper compared with MMM, Honeywell is trading at a premium. Notably, Carlisle and Honeywell are trading at 16.44X and 19.69X, respectively.
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MMM's Earnings Estimate Revision
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 3M's 2025 earnings has increased 3.8% to $7.92 per share over the past 60 days, indicating year-over-year growth of 8.5%. The consensus mark for 2026 earnings increased 2.2% to $8.35 per share, indicating a year-over-year increase of 5.3%.
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Final Take on 3M
Given the strength across most of its businesses, solid earnings estimates and robust share price returns, maintaining a position in 3M appears to be the right choice. Challenges, such as weakness in the retail market, high debt level and premium valuation, are limiting this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company's near-term prospects.While current shareholders should hold their positions, new investors should wait for the stock to retract some of its recent gains and provide a better entry point.You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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