Should you be looking at 3M?

There were a lot of earnings reports this week -- if you weren't setting up some trades before the reports were released, you're probably digesting the numbers now. I had a look at 3M (NYSE: MMM) this morning. The famous Dow component, which competes with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and DuPont (NYSE: DD), reported this past Thursday. Net sales increased 9%, but diluted earnings per share unfortunately took a whopping decline of 25%. However, you need to take a look at what caused this drop -- there was a gain in last year's quarter from the disposition of a European pharmaceutical business, as well as some other items. Excluding these elements, you'll find that earnings per share grew by 8%.

According to the company's release, 3M did rather well in the free-cash-flow department. Last year at this time, free cash flow came in at $276 million. This past quarter saw free cash flow grow to just under $700 million. I liked that; I also liked that most of the company's divisions reported double-digit profit growth. This is a healthy, blue-chip dividend player -- plus, 3M is comfortable with its previously stated forward guidance of at least $5.47 in adjusted earnings per share for 2008 (or, as the release put it, management believes net income will see an increase of "a minimum of 10% over 2007 earnings-per-share of $4.98"), and it beat the street this past quarter by three pennies, according to Briefing.com.

Here are some things to think about regarding 3M's stock. If it does earn close to $5.47 a share, then the company sports a forward P/E ratio of a little over 14. The yield on the shares is well over 2%. And, as of Friday's close, the price of the stock -- $77.82 -- is well off the 52-week high of $97 and a little ways off from the 52-week low of $72.05. Taken together, this 3M scenario seems like an interesting set-up for a decent trade. The stock looks like it will probably meander for a bit, but it nevertheless should be looked at.

Disclosure: I don't own shares in any of the companies mentioned here; positions can change at any time.