3M Health Care posts flat Q4 sales, income slides

Sales were flat and income fell for 3M‘s (NYSE:MMM) 3M Health Care business during the 4th quarter, the industrial giant said today.

Operating income for the healthcare business was $410 million for the 3 months ended Dec. 31, 2016, down -7.3% compared with 2015, on a -0.1% sales dip to $1.4 billion, 3M said this morning. Organic sales growth was 1.3%, offset by a -1.4% hit from foreign exchange rates.

The parent company managed a beat-or-meet quarter when it came to Wall Street’s expectations. 3M posted overall Q4 profits of $1.16 billion, or $1.88 per share, on sales of $7.33 billion, for bottom-line growth of 11.3% on sales growth of 0.4% compared with Q4 2015. The Street was looking for EPS of $1.87.

Full-year profits were $5.05 billion, or $8.16 per share, on sales of $30.11 billion; analysts were expecting EPS of $8.16 on sales of $30.12 billion.

“The 4th quarter capped a successful year for our enterprise, as we posted double-digit growth in earnings per share, expanded margins and delivered robust cash flow,” chairman, president & CEO Inge Thulin said in prepared remarks. “We also made incremental investments to accelerate growth in core platforms, while returning significant cash to shareholders.”

3M said it still expects to post EPS of $8.45 to $8.80 on organic sales growth of 1% to 3%.

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