3M (NYSE:MMM) shares took a slight dip today on third-quarter results that finished ahead of the consensus forecast.
The St. Paul, Minn.-based company posted profits of $1.4 billion, or $2.43 per share, on sales of $8.4 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2020, for a -10.7% bottom-line slide on sales growth of 4.5%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were also $2.43, 17¢ ahead of Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $8.3 billion.
The company saw some sequential improvements with demand for personal safety products and biopharma filtration, among other segments, showing growth. However, COVID-19-related headwinds continued to negatively affect healthcare and oral care elective procedures, healthcare IT and more.
“Our third-quarter performance demonstrated once again the strength of the 3M model as we executed well, served customers and continued to fight the pandemic,” 3M chairman & CEO Mike Roman said in a news release. “Though economic uncertainty and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic remain, we returned to positive organic sales growth with sequential improvement across businesses and geographies. We posted another quarter of robust cash flow, aggressively managed costs and further strengthened our balance sheet.
“We continue to take actions to transform 3M and position us to deliver strong results as our end markets recover. We will invest where demand is strong, aggressively manage our cost structure, and create new innovations that address customer needs and global market trends.”
Remaining cautious about projections with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, 3M said it is not providing guidance at this time. However, it will continue monthly reporting of sales information, with October estimates coming in even or up to low-single digits year-over-year.
MMM shares were down -1.2% at $164.19 per share in mid-morning trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was up 0.3%.