The stocks of stodgy industrial conglomerates don't often jump, but investors pushed shares of 3M (NYSE: MMM) almost 9% higher early Tuesday morning after the company provided a financial and business update that had several moving parts. 3M shares have since pared those gains somewhat, but they were still up by 7% as of 10:55 a.m. ET.
3M reported strong second-quarter earnings Tuesday morning, but investors are also reacting to two additional announcements from the company. Most significant was the decision by the company to hive off its healthcare business into a separately traded public company. 3M says the new company will focus on wound and oral care, healthcare IT, and biopharma filtration.
This follows the announcement late in 2021 that 3M would be spinning off its food safety business and merging it with Neogen to create a larger, pure-play food security company. That transaction is expected to be finalized later this year.
Source Fool.com