What happened
Shares of industrial giant 3M Co (MMM +2.80%) fell as much as 8.5% in early trading Tuesday after reporting third-quarter 2018 results. There was a little bounce from those lows at 11:30 a.m. EDT, with shares trading down just 6.5% on the day.
So what
Revenue was down 0.2% to $8.15 billion, and net income was up 8% to $1.54 billion, or $2.64 per share. On an adjusted basis, which pulls out one-time items, earnings were $2.48 per share.
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Analysts were expecting $8.41 billion in revenue and $2.70 per share in earnings, so results fell well short of expectations.
The bigger news may have been management's updated earnings guidance for the year of $9.90 to $10.00, down from a previous range of $10.20 to $10.45 per share. Analysts were expecting $10.28 per share in earnings.
Now what
The weak results follow an outstanding second quarter that may have given investors a little too much hope for growth. Management had disclosed that an ERP rollout could front-weight 2018's sales, and price increases implemented in the past year would only drive organic growth for so long. That said, the slowdown was worse than most analysts expected, and negative sales in a strong economy can't be a good sign. That's why shares of 3M are down big today.
