3M also took the opportunity to update guidance for the year. This guidance may not look to far off of estimates, but right now the investing community is trying to find anything positive that it can grab a hold of.
Adding Polypore’s Separations Media business is said to build on 3M’s fundamental strengths. This business was shown also to have annual global sales of approximately $210 million. To put that in perspective, 3M’s revenue in 2014 was $31.8 billion
On a GAAP basis, 3M projects that this acquisition should be $0.03 per share dilutive to 2015 earnings. 3M now expects its full-year 2015 GAAP earnings per share will be in a range of $7.73 to $7.93 per share. While that is in-line with a $7.73 EPS consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters, this guidance was previously put in a range of $7.80 to $8.00 per share. 3M said that the $0.07 per share adjustment will be incurred largely in the third quarter.
3M shares were up 1.2% at $139.33 mid-morning Wednesday. It has a 52-week range of $130.60 to $170.50 and a consensus analyst price target that is still up to almost $165.
As we have noted on multiple occasions of late, even if analysts want to maintain their Buy and Outperform ratings on top stocks, they are going to have to adjust their upside price targets lower. Traditional Buy and Outperform ratings in the large cap stocks historically come with 8% to 15% upside. If the Dow and S&P both pulled back over 10%, those targets just have to come lower.
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