3M Raises Full-Year Forecast as Safety and Electronics Lift Sales — Update

By Adriano Marchese

3M increased its full-year targets as the conglomerate saw higher sales in safety and electronics.

The maker of Post-It notes on Tuesday said it now expects adjusted earnings per share between $8.80 and $8.95 for the year, up from a previous range of $8.50 to $8.70. Analysts polled by FactSet currently expect full-year earnings of $8.74 a share.

The company also anticipates adjusted total sales growth of over 4.5%, reflecting adjusted organic sales growth of more than 3.5%.

Previously, 3M expected 4% revenue growth for the year with organic sales growth, excluding acquisitions and other exceptional items, of about 3%.

Shares recently were up 5.7% at $168.21 in premarket trading.

Total safety and industrial sales rose to $3.09 billion, up 7.5%, in the latest period while total transportation and electronics sales climbed 6.2% to $2.07 billion.

For the second quarter, 3M posted net income of $1.78 a share, compared with $1.34 a share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Adjusted earnings, which strips out exceptional items and one-off costs came to $2.40 a share. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting $2.25 a share.

Net sales rose 2.4% to $6.5 billion, ahead of the $6.4 billion projected by analysts.

Along with higher revenue and adjusted earnings growth expectations, 3M expects adjusted operating income margin expansion of 70 to 80 basis points, and adjusted operating cash flow of $5.8 billion to $6 billion.

3M said it continues to see order momentum with strength in general industrial, safety and data centers.

Last week, 3M said it was teaming up with Microsoft to help each other make artificial intelligence a bigger component of their businesses.

Microsoft will deploy 3M's expanded beam optical technology in its Azure data centers, while 3M will use Microsoft AI to advance its enterprise transformation across key business areas.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 21, 2026 08:35 ET (12:35 GMT)