3M Sees Adjusted Profit Rising 10%-14% in 2011

Dow component 3M said it expects its adjusted earnings to grow 10 to 14 percent next year over its predicted profit for 2010.

The St. Paul, Minn., maker of everything from Post-Its to respirators said earnings excluding 27 cents a share in pension costs will be between $6.17 and $6.37 a share in 2011.

Sales next year are projected to be between $29 billion and $30.5 billion.

Those estimates are higher than analysts were forecasting. According to Thomson Reuters, 3M was expected to earn $6.20 a share on revenue of $29.15 billion. Typically, analysts estimates exclude items such as pension costs.

For the end of this year, the company said it projects earnings per share of between $5.70 and $5.74 excluding items, compared with forecasts of $5.73 from Thomson Reuters analysts.

The company said it is committed to expand its market share through “increased investments in research and development, sales and marketing and new manufacturing capacity, particularly in fast growth developing economies.”