3M beats on profit, raises 2026 earnings guidance

3M reported third-quarter earnings of $2.50 a share, $0.09 above analyst estimates. Revenue was $6.60bn, below the $6.68bn forecast.

The company raised its full-year 2026 outlook, now expecting adjusted total sales growth of more than 4.5% and adjusted organic sales growth of more than 3.5%. It lifted its adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $9.10 to $9.15 a share. 3M also guided to adjusted operating cash flow of about $5.9bn and adjusted free cash flow of about $4.8bn for the year.

Chairman and chief executive William Brown said improving productivity from the company's structural transformation, along with a stronger pipeline of new technologies, supports confidence in the full-year outlook and in long-term growth and margin targets.

The stronger results give investors a second reason to watch 3M beyond its warrant arrangement with Amazon, struck a day earlier, which only vests in full once Amazon's cumulative payments to 3M reach $6bn. With organic sales growth now guided above 3.5% and free cash flow approaching $4.8bn, 3M's industrial business is gaining strength on its own terms. That shifts how investors weigh the Amazon warrant: not as the sole catalyst for the stock, but as an added call option on hyperscaler spending layered on top of an improving core business.