MMM 3M Company

By Dave Sebastian

3M Co. said its sales rose for the September quarter, though profit fell as expenses grew and sales of products serving industries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic continued declining.

The company posted a third-quarter profit of $1.41 billion, or $2.43 a share, compared with $1.58 billion, or $2.75 a share, in the same period last year. Excluding items, earnings were also $2.43 a share, topping analysts' expectations.

The Saint Paul, Minn., manufacturer on Tuesday said its sales rose 4.5% to $8.35 billion. The company had expected sales of $8.2 billion to $8.3 billion, and analysts polled by FactSet had expected $8.31 billion. Comparable local-currency sales rose 0.9%.

At the company's safety and industrial business, sales grew 6.9%. Health-care sales increased almost 26%. Consumer-product sales rose 5.6%, while transportation and electronics products fell 7.4%.

Operating expenses grew to $6.44 billion from $5.98 billion.

The company sees October sales to be flat to up low-single digits from the same month last year. It didn't provide other financial outlook due to Covid-19 uncertainty but said it will continue to report monthly sales for the current quarter.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2020 07:06 ET (11:06 GMT)

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