Earnings

Post-it maker 3M's profit beats estimates on lower costs

Scott Eells | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Diversified manufacturer 3M reported a higher-than-expected 6.6 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by lower costs.

The company, which makes Post-it notes, Scotch tape and an array of adhesives and abrasives, also reported its smallest decline in revenue in five quarters.

Total operating expenses fell nearly 4 percent to $5.62 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, helped by restructuring initiatives including job cuts.

Lockheed Martin and 33rd Fighter Wing personnel work with 96th Fuels Flight airmen at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
Lockheed Martin's revenue rises 15.7 percent

Net income attributable to 3M rose to $1.28 billion, or $2.05 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $1.20 billion, or $1.85 per share, a year earlier.

The latest reported quarter included a gain of 10 cents per share as it changed the way it accounted for employee share-based payments.

Revenue fell to $7.41 billion from $7.58 billion.

Analysts on an average had expected the company to earn $1.92 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

3M maintained its 2016 financial forecast of a 1 percent to 3 percent sales growth, excluding the impact of currency changes, and earnings of $8.10 to $8.45 per share.

3M shares were up 1 percent at $170 in premarket trading on Tuesday. Up to Monday's close, the company's shares had risen 11.8 percent this year.