3M Stock Stumbles On Weak Earnings Forecast, 2000 Job Cuts

A slew of bad first quarter earnings indicators from 3M, plus news of layoffs, sent the company’s share price plunging 13 percent, and helped drag down the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 0.4 percent.

Shares also tumbled after 3M cut its 2019 earnings forecast and announced plans to lay off 2,000 employees as part of an effort to restructure its businesses into four operating units from five. 3M also slashed its full-year guidance, citing worsening performance in high-growth markets such as China.

Analysts said 3M’s stock remains on track for its worst day since Oct. 19, 1987, or Black Monday, when the Dow lost 22.61 percent.

The stock closed at $190.72, a drop of 12.95 percent, but recovered somewhat in after-hours trading to $191.21. Before Thursday’s drop, 3M shares were up 15 percent for the year, slightly outperforming the Dow. The stock is now only up about 1% for 2019.

3M now expects adjusted earnings between $9.25 and $9.75 a share for 2019, down from its prior forecast of $10.45 to $10.90 per share.

“The first quarter was a disappointing start to the year for 3M,” said CEO Mike Roman. “We continued to face slowing conditions in key end markets which impacted both organic growth and margins, and our operational execution also fell short of the expectations we have for ourselves.”

“As a result, we have stepped up additional actions – including restructuring – to drive productivity, reduce costs, and increase cash flow as we manage through challenges in some of our end markets.”

3M reported revenue of $7.863 billion compared to the $8.025 billion expected by a Refinitiv survey of analysts. Earnings per share (adjusted) came in at $2.23 vs. $2.49 expected by Refinitiv.

Sales stumbled 5 percent to $7.9 billion compared to the same time period in 2018. The sales picture was a mixed bag.

Sales improved in the United States, 3M's largest region, but dropped more than 9% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. These areas make up 3M's second largest region. Sales in Asia fell more than 7% compared to a year ago.

3M said the job cut will result in estimated annual pretax savings ranging of $225 million to $250 million, with $100 million in the remainder of 2019. The job cuts will affect around 2 percent of 3M’s global workforce. 3M will spread out the cuts across different business divisions and geographies with a focus on corporate structure and underperforming areas.