3M Q2 Preview: What to expect

3M (NYSE:MMM) is scheduled to report Q2 results on Thursday, July 17th, after market close, with analysts expecting both earnings and revenue to see a YY jump.

The Post-it maker’s EPS is projected to see a 4.1% year-on-year jump to $2.01, while revenue is also likely to come at $6.07B, representing a 1.2% jump compared to the year-ago quarter.

Last quarter, the company’s shares jumped after it posted better-than-expected results. While the company is expected to record solid growth this quarter, investors are also likely to look out for management’s comments on tariff-related impact.

Last quarter, CEO William Brown had warned that tariffs may have a negative effect on profits for the year.

“Tariffs are going to be a headwind this year, but we thought it would be prudent to hold the impact outside of our full-year guidance, while I digest the new policies and fully develop and quantify mitigation plans,” Brown had said.

The company has priced in tariff-related headwinds of $850 million annually, with anticipated mitigation actions reducing the impact by $0.20 to $0.40 on EPS.

Discussing early Q2 trends and potential pre-buying, CEO Brown had then noted limited pre-buy activity, highlighted ongoing order strength in the industrial segment, while pointing to weakness in the transportation and electronics sectors.

Over the last 2 years, 3M has beaten EPS estimates 100% of the time and has beaten revenue estimates 63% of the time. Over the last 3 months, EPS estimates have seen 1 upward revision and 11 downward moves while revenue estimates have seen 7 upward revisions and 3 downward adjustments.

On the year-to-date basis, the company has gone up by 21.66% compared to about a 7% rise in the broader markets.