3M Holds on as Dow's Poorest Performing Stock

Investing

Published: August 18, 2018 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 7:10 pm

Industrial giant 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) received a slight boost to its share price last week, but the gain was not enough to lift it out of the Dow’s basement. Shares added about 1.4% on no significant news, but 3M’s stock has now dropped 13% for the year to date.

The second-worst Dow Jones industrials stock so far this year is Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), which is down 11.6%. That is followed by Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), down 8.9%, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), down 8.4%, and Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), down 6.4%. Of the 30 Dow stocks, 13 are showing a loss to date in 2018.

The blue-chip index added nearly 356 points last week to close at 25,669.32, up about 1.4% compared to the previous Friday’s close. The Dow closed up less than 1% for the second quarter, and down 1.8% for the first six months of 2018. For the year to date, the index is up 3.4%, trailing both the S&P 500 (up 5.7%) and the Nasdaq Composite (up 11.6%).

3M’s 1.4% gain last week matched the performance of the entire industrials sector. For the past 30 days, industrial sector stocks are up about 3.7%, fourth-best of the 11 S&P sectors. But for the year to date, the industrial sector is up just 0.3%, well below the S&P 500’s year-to-date gain.

The industrial conglomerate subsector, which includes 3M, Honeywell and General Electric, has performed especially badly, down more than 13% in 2018 and down nearly 20% over the past 12 months.

3M stock closed at $204.77 on Friday, up about 0.8% for the day, in a 52-week trading range of $190.57 to $259.77. The 12-month consensus price target on the stock is $209.85, and the forward price-to-earnings ratio is 18.22.

ALSO READ: Apple Returns to Perch as Dow Top-Performing Stock

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