3M Reclaims Position as Dow’s Poorest Performer

By Paul Ausick Updated Jan 11, 5:52PM EST · Published Sep 15, 8:40AM EDT

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After a two-week absence, 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) dropped once again into the Dow Jones industrials cellar. The industrial giant’s stock lost about 2.2% last week and is now trading down 11.7% for the year to date.

The second-worst Dow stock so far this year is Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), which is down 10%. That is followed by Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), down 9%, Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) down 8.5%, and McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), down 6.6%.

The blue-chip index added 38.28 points last week to close at 26,154.67, up about 0.9% compared to the previous Friday’s close. For the third quarter to date, the Dow is up 8.2%, better than the S&P 500 (up 7.1%) and the Nasdaq Composite (up 6.8%). For the year to date, the index is up 5.4%, trailing both the S&P 500 (up 7.8%) and the Nasdaq Composite (up 14.3%).

3M didn’t generate any big news last week, but analysts and investors are wary of the whole industrials sector. The Trump administration on Friday imposed a new round of $200 billion in tariffs on China and threatened to add another $267 billion.

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The industrial conglomerates, of which 3M is one, have been hardest hit by the trade battles, down about 10% for the year to date and more than 15% for the past 12 months. Even at that, the sector’s forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is still a more than healthy 20.42.

3M is the second-largest holding in the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA: XLI) at 5.29%. Boeing is the largest with a 7.93% share of the fund, but even it’s 22% year-to-date share price increase isn’t enough to push the fund’s increase for the year even to the same level as the Dow’s gains. The sector is just stuck in neutral, and nobody is sure if that’s as bad as it could get.

3M stock closed at $207.88 on Friday, down about 0.6% for the day, in a 52-week range of $190.57 to $259.77. The 12-month consensus price target on the stock is $210.36, and the forward P/E ratio is 18.51.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.