3M beats quarterly profit estimates as cost-control push swells margins

Woman writing on a post-it note on a glass window. The Post-it maker 3M has been cutting expenses, hiking prices and rolling out new products. (Magnetme/Pexels)

Industrial giant 3M posted a rise in first-quarter profit on Tuesday, as cost-control measures helped offset inflationary and tariff-linked pressures in an uncertain economic environment.

The Post-it maker has been cutting expenses, hiking prices and rolling out new products and customer service initiatives to cushion its margins, as geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility increases costs and threatens to worsen inflation.

3M’s adjusted operating margin for the quarter rose 30 basis points from a year earlier to 23.8 per cent.

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Sales in the consumer, safety and industrial segments also improved, partially offsetting ongoing weakness in 3M’s automotive aftermarket and roofing granules business.

Safety and industrials recorded a 3.2 per cent rise in quarterly sales from a year earlier, while consumer segment sales grew 1.3 per cent, with demand improving in international markets though U.S. discretionary spending remained weak.

But surging oil prices due to the Middle East conflict may now pose a further risk to demand from industrial end-markets.

Though 3M reiterated its annual adjusted profit forecast of US$8.50 per share to US$8.70 per share, the range includes a five cents to 15 cents estimated impact due to oil and macroeconomic uncertainty.

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Adjusted profit for the first quarter came in at US$2.14 per share, compared with US$1.88 per share a year ago. Analysts were expecting a profit of US$1.99 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Quarterly net sales rose 1.3 per cent from a year ago to US$6 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of US$6.01 billion.

Shares of the company were down over one per cent in premarket trading.

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Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda