Why 3M Shares Fell Today
Shares of industrial conglomerate 3M (NYSE: MMM) were trading down by 2.6% as of 2:03 p.m. ET Friday. That slide occurred as the market digested the news that one of the company's largest shareholders, German mutual fund manager Flossbach von Storch, isn't happy with 3M's leadership.
According to the Financial Times, Bert Flossbach, the asset manager's co-founder, wrote to 3M's management to express his increasing concern about how the company is being run. As quoted in the FT article, Flossbach noted that it was "increasingly hard to take confidence in your still positive statements regarding the underlying health of 3M."
Flossbach has a point. As I wrote earlier this week, 2022 was not the first year during which 3M's growth failed to match management's expectations, and management's outlook for organic sales in 2023 to be flat at best and to fall by as much as 3% at the bottom of its guidance range doesn't inspire confidence.
Source Fool.com
