Let me offer an upfront mea culpa on 3M (NYSE: MMM). I bought the stock, lost money, and sold most of my position to capture my loss for tax purposes. I learned a valuable lesson along the way (more on this below). But after a seemingly strong second-quarter earnings performance, given that the stock rose 5% on the release, is 3M a buy, sell, or hold today?
The diversified industrial company reported second-quarter revenue of roughly $8.3 billion. That was a few percentage points higher than the figure Wall Street analysts had been expecting, on average. 3M's adjusted earnings tallied up to $2.17 per share, way better than the analyst consensus estimate of $1.65. Investors like to see a company beat on the top and bottom lines, so it makes sense that the stock jumped 5% on the earnings update.
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Source Fool.com