Long-suffering 3M (NYSE: MMM) shareholders must have been pleasantly surprised by its first-quarter results Tuesday morning, and the stock is moving higher as a result. Shares of 3M were trading up by 5% as of 10:30 a.m. ET after its numbers easily beat expectations.
The industrial conglomerate has lost more than 40% of its value over the past three years as it worked through a series of restructurings, lawsuits, and operational issues that have impacted earnings.
The first quarter provided some reasons for hope that the worst is over. 3M earned $2.39 per share on sales of $7.72 billion, easily topping Wall Street's consensus estimates of $1.96 per share on $7.1 billion. Sales were down slightly year over year, including the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, and its GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) operating income margin improved by more than 300 basis points to 18.8%.
Source Fool.com