3M Co. (NYSE:MMM) beat expectations for its 4th-quarter profits and affirmed its guidance for 2012, but Wall Street remained unmoved, with shares staying flat in this morning’s trading.
The industrial conglomerate posted profits of $954 million, or $1.35 per diluted share, on sales of $7.09 billion for the 3 months ended Dec. 31, 2011. That’s a bottom-line boost of 2.8% and a top-line increase of 5.7%, compared with profits of $928 million, or $1.28 diluted EPS, on sales of $6.71 billion during Q4 2010. Analysts on The Street were expecting EPS of $1.31 for the quarter.
For the full year, 3M logged profits of $4.28 billion, or $5.96 per share, on sales of $29.61 billion – up 4.8% and 11.1%, respectively, compared with 2010.
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“2011 was a successful year for 3M, with record sales and earnings per share,” chairman, president & CEO George Buckley said in prepared remarks. “Looking ahead, we believe that slower growth will persist into the first half of 2012, so we will increase attention to the bottom line in the near term. We know that in uncertain times, it is even more important that we innovate and differentiate ourselves, therefore we will preserve key investments in R&D, sales and manufacturing to achieve accelerated growth.”
3M affirmed its 2012 guidance, saying it still expects profits of between $6.25 and $6.50 per share, with organic sales growth of 2% to 5%.
The company’s health care segment posted Q4 sales of $1.26 billion, up 5.3% over Q4 2010, and operating profits of $389 million, up 12.1% over the same period in 2010. For the full year the division logged sales of $5.03 billion, up 11.5%, and operating profits of $1.49 billion, up 9.3%.
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