Here's Why 3M Stock Spiked Higher Today
Shares in industrial conglomerate 3M (NYSE: MMM) spiked by 6% in early morning trading as the market warmed to the company's fourth-quarter earnings report.
The earnings report and guidance were solid enough and helped confirm the bullish case for 3M stock. While its end markets remain mixed -- strength in areas like electronics, aerospace, and roofing granules is being offset by weakness in areas like the automotive aftermarket, personal safety, and home and auto care -- 3M's management is undergoing an ongoing transformation intended to improve long-term growth and near- to medium-term margins.
You can think of it in terms of two roughly defined buckets. The first bucket is the restructuring initiated by the former CEO Mike Roman (spinning off the healthcare business, job cuts, changing 3M's global go-to-market approach, reducing management layers, and cutting 5% of less favorable consumer product lines). The second bucket comes from current CEO Bill Brown (driving top-line growth through targeted research and development, improving operational performance, and deploying capital better).
Source Fool.com
