One-glance verdict
Overvalued
$135.06 our estimate vs market $164.75
Wall Street consensus: $186.15 (37.8% higher than our fair-value estimate)
22% above our estimate, beyond the bull case
Fundamentals snapshot
3M Company
MMM · NYQ · Industrials · Conglomerates
Current price
$164.75
52-week range
$139.34 - $184.90
Market cap
$84.97B
Balance sheet
Stretched
5.06x Adequate
Net debt $7.86B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
2 Risks
3 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 0.9% last year.
- Reward Returns 81.9% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
- Risk Stock trades 63.7% above its 5-year average P/E.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 0.1% (peer median: 0.2%).
What this company does
3M Company
3M is the company behind thousands of products used in daily life, from Post-it Notes and Scotch tape to specialized materials for cars, electronics, and safety equipment. The company makes its money by selling this vast range of items to both regular consumers and large businesses across almost every industry. Because its sales are so widely spread out, 3M doesn't depend too heavily on any single product or market, which can help make its business more stable over time.
How the company got here
3M, originally known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, was founded in 1902 as a small-scale mining venture. After early struggles, the company shifted its focus to manufacturing sandpaper and other abrasive products. A culture of innovation led to the development of iconic products like Scotch tape in the 1920s and Post-it Notes in 1980. Through a combination of in-house research and strategic acquisitions, 3M expanded into a global conglomerate with a vast portfolio of products across numerous industries. The company has a long history of paying dividends (a portion of profits shared with stockholders) and has recently undergone significant restructuring, including spinning off its healthcare business.
What it actually does
3M is a science-based company that creates a huge variety of products used in homes, offices, schools, hospitals, and factories. You might recognize their famous brands like Post-it Notes for reminders, Scotch tape for wrapping gifts, and Command hooks for hanging pictures without damaging walls. They also make things you might not see, but that are essential to other products, like adhesives that hold parts of your car or phone together, and reflective materials used in road signs. From bandages and cleaning sponges to high-tech materials for electronics and safety equipment for factory workers, 3M's innovations are a part of everyday life.
Safety and Industrial
This is 3M's largest business segment, making up nearly half of the company's revenue. It provides a wide range of products to keep workers safe and factories running smoothly. This includes things like respirators, hearing protection, and fall-protection equipment for construction and manufacturing workers. The segment also sells industrial-strength tapes and adhesives, electrical components, and roofing granules for shingles.
Transportation and Electronics
This segment, which accounts for about a third of 3M's revenue, creates solutions for the automotive, aerospace, and electronics industries. For cars and planes, they provide specialized films, adhesives, and materials that can make them lighter and more durable. In the world of electronics, they produce components for smartphones and data centers, such as films for displays and materials for semiconductor manufacturing. This part of the business also makes the reflective sheeting used for traffic signs and vehicle license plates.
Consumer
This is the most familiar part of 3M's business for many people, representing about 20% of its sales. It includes well-known brands that you likely have in your home or office. Think of Post-it Notes, Scotch tape, Scotch-Brite sponges, Command hooks, and Filtrete air filters. This segment also offers home improvement products like sandpaper and painter's tape, as well as healthcare items such as Nexcare bandages and ACE braces.
What management is betting on now
3M's leadership is focused on driving growth through innovation and improving the company's operational performance. A key part of their strategy is to increase the number of new products they launch each year by investing more in research and development. They are also concentrating on high-growth areas like automotive technology and data centers. Additionally, the company is working on making its manufacturing processes more efficient and is focused on effectively deploying its capital (money available for investment and spending).
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q3
$-2.03B
FY2024 Q4
$1.53B
FY2025 Q1
$-315.00M
FY2025 Q2
$-1.16B
FY2025 Q3
$1.54B
FY2025 Q4
$1.33B
FY2026 Q1
$349.00M
FY2026 Q2
$763.00M
Revenue
$6.50B
Net income
$933.00M
Diluted EPS
1.78
Operating cash flow
$986.00M
Free cash flow
$763.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.03B
Net income
$653.00M
Diluted EPS
1.23
Operating cash flow
$574.00M
Free cash flow
$349.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.13B
Net income
$577.00M
Diluted EPS
1.07
Operating cash flow
$1.58B
Free cash flow
$1.33B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.52B
Net income
$834.00M
Diluted EPS
1.55
Operating cash flow
$1.76B
Free cash flow
$1.54B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.34B
Net income
$723.00M
Diluted EPS
1.34
Operating cash flow
$-954.00M
Free cash flow
$-1.16B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$5.95B
Net income
$1.12B
Diluted EPS
2.04
Operating cash flow
$-79.00M
Free cash flow
$-315.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.01B
Net income
$728.00M
Diluted EPS
1.33
Operating cash flow
$1.82B
Free cash flow
$1.53B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.29B
Net income
$1.37B
Diluted EPS
2.48
Operating cash flow
$-1.79B
Free cash flow
$-2.03B
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $135.06 vs current price $164.75
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $186.15 (37.8% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $135.06 a share — about 18.0% below today's price of $164.75, so the stock currently looks expensive (overvalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $7.9B. Interest coverage 5.1x.
Net debt
$7.86B
Interest coverage
5.06x
3M Company's profit covers its interest bill about 5.1 times over.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
MMM
BASELINE
3M Company
Total debt $13.16B Interest coverage 5.06x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $34.96B Interest coverage 4.89x -4% vs MMM Has roughly the same debt cushion as MMM.
Total debt $20.23B Interest coverage 10.30x +103% vs MMM Carries about 2.0x more debt cushion than MMM.
Total debt $3.61B Interest coverage 9.12x +80% vs MMM Carries about 1.8x more debt cushion than MMM.
Total debt $21.33B Interest coverage 21.61x +327% vs MMM Carries about 4.3x more debt cushion than MMM.
Total debt $3.26B Interest coverage 12.51x +147% vs MMM Carries about 2.5x more debt cushion than MMM.
What you should know
The case for and against MMM
3 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 0.9% last year.
-
Returns 81.9% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Stock trades 63.7% above its 5-year average P/E.
-
Insider ownership is only 0.1% (peer median: 0.2%).
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
29.26x
Forward P/E
16.78x
P/B
28.78x
P/S
3.37x
EV/EBITDA
14.31x
PEG ratio
1.55x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
39.4%
Operating margin
20.4%
Net margin
11.9%
ROE
81.9%
ROA
8.7%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
4.38x
Current ratio
1.24x
Quick ratio
0.81x
Total debt
$13.16B
Total cash
$5.30B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$25.18B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
-8.3%
EPS TTM
5.63
EPS 5Y CAGR
-16.2%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$4.90B
Free CF TTM
$1.40B
FCF margin
5.5%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
1.9%
Payout ratio
53.6%
Last ex-div date
2026-08-24