3M Healthcare’s sales, profits gain in Q1

Sales and profits were up during the first quarter for the healthcare business at industrial conglomerate 3M Cos. (NYSE:MMM), the Minnesota-based company said today.

3M Healthcare posted operating profits of $460 million on sales of $1.54 billion for the three months ended March 31, for gains of 7.2% and 7.0%, respectively, over Q1 2017.

Overall 3M reported quarterly profits of $602 million, or 98¢ per share, on sales of $8.28 billion, for a bottom-line slide of -54.5% on sales growth of 7.7%.

Adjusted to exclude one-time items – including a $217 million, 36¢-per-share expense from last year’s tax cuts and an $897 million settlement with the North Star State – adjusted earnings per share were $2.50, dead in line with Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $8.23 billion.

“Coming off a strong 2017, our team opened the new year with broad-based organic growth of three percent, with positive growth across all business groups,” chairman, president & CEO Inge Thulin said in prepared remarks. “We also continued to invest in our commercialization capabilities, while returning significant cash to our shareholders — including a 16% dividend increase. Going forward we will continue to execute the 3M playbook and leverage the world-class capabilities of our people and our enterprise, and I am confident we will deliver strong results in 2018.”

3M cut the high end of its forecast, saying it now expects to post 2018 adjusted EPS of $10.20 to $10.55, compared with $10.20 to $10.70 previously, on constant-currency sales growth of 3% to 4%, versus 3% to 5% previously.

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