3M Company (MMM) is in the news today because of an investor meeting. Here's one bullet point from TheFly. The gathering brought my mind back to the stock. How is it looking these days?

Well, it's pulled back from the 52-week high. At the time of this writing, shares were fetching a price of $88.68. The top point for the year is currently set at $94.16; the low point is $67.98, so thankfully we're nowhere near that depressing level. (Could the bearishness become so bad that we eventually get close to that price? Don't even think it!).

Continue reading 3M: Still a Buy

3M: Still a Buy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The shares of 3M Company (MMM), first discussed here on April 20, 2009, at a price of $51.97, have meandered during the past three months, but I still like the business model at this stage. Here's why.

3M's 2011 revenue will likely increase 12% to 14%, after a 15% rise in 2010, propelled higher by strength in all business lines: industrial, health care, display and graphics, consumer/office, electronics/communications, and safety/security. Further, 3M's demonstrated innovation prowess and commitment to research/development make it a formidable industrial giant.

Continue reading 3M: Diversified Industrial Gem

3M: Diversified Industrial Gem originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading 3M Sold on Q4 News: Should We Care?

3M Sold on Q4 News: Should We Care? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Diamond Offshore (DO) to conviction buy from sell and Baker Hughes (BHI) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Frontier Communications (FTR) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Syntel (SYNT) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo, to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank and to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC) and Fiserv (FISV) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• 3M (MMM) to neutral from underweight and Tyco (TYC) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Collective Brands (PSS) and Nordstrom (JWN) to overweight from equal weight, as well as Foot Locker (FL) to equal weight from underweight, at Morgan Stanley.
• Amazon.com (AMZN) to buy from hold at Lazard Capital.
• Yamana Gold (AUY) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: APC, AMZN, CME, DO, GPS, H, JCP, JWN, KSS, PM SYNT ...

Analyst Calls: APC, AMZN, CME, DO, GPS, H, JCP, JWN, KSS, PM SYNT ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Beckman Coulter (BEC), a top medical diagnostic instruments company, has been public over 20 years. But it looks like its days of independence may soon be over. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Beckman is in the process of selling itself. So far in today's trading, the shares are up 27% to $72.57, with the market cap at about $5 billion.

Beckman's products span many categories like biomedical testing and lab automation. The installed base is roughly 200,000. In fact, a large portion of the revenues come from recurring sources (such as refilling supplies for the machines). In other words, Beckman has sturdy cash flow stream.

Continue reading Is Beckman Coulter Buyout Bait?

Is Beckman Coulter Buyout Bait? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Red Hat (RHT) and American Public (APEI) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• KBR (KBR) and Foster Wheeler (FWLT) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Bio-Rad (BIO) to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• Oceaneering (OII) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• ASM International (ASMI) and Avid Technology (AVID) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Dominion Resources (D) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Nationwide Health Properties (NHP) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vivus (VVUS) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Intersil (ISIL) to buy from hold at Canaccord.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ALTR, CBOE, D, ETR, JCI, KBR, MMM, NFLX, OII, RHT, WY ...

Analyst Calls: ALTR, CBOE, D, ETR, JCI, KBR, MMM, NFLX, OII, RHT, WY ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Has the Easy Money Been Made with 3M?

Has the Easy Money Been Made with 3M? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The earnings crunch continues this week, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are anticipating lots of strong quarterly reports.

For example, year-over-year earnings growth from big oil Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), ExxonMobil (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) are expected to be in double digits. The same is true of many other energy and mining concerns reporting this week: Allegheny Technologies (ATI), Alliant Energy (LNT), Arch Coal (ACI), Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF), CMS Energy (CMS), CONSOL Energy (CNX), DPL (DPL), Hess Corp. (HES), Minerals Technologies (MTX), Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), PPL Corp. (PPL), Southwestern Energy (SWN), Total (TOT), Whiting Petroleum (WLL), Williams Companies (WMB) and Wisconsin Energy (WEC).

Continue reading Week in Preview: The Earnings Crunch Rolls On (MSFT, COP, V)

Week in Preview: The Earnings Crunch Rolls On (MSFT, COP, V) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 24 Oct 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup assumed coverage of Illinois Tool Works (ITW) and upgraded shares to buy from hold with a $52 price target. Citi cites valuation and the company's successful execution for the rating change.
• UBS upgraded Rowan Companies (RDC) to buy from neutral based on better-than-expected dayrates in the high specification jack-up market. The firm raised its price target to $42 from $28.
• UBS also upgraded NetLogic (NETL) to buy from neutral and keeps a $33.50 target on the stock. The firm upgraded shares based on valuation and solid long-term outlook.
• AvalonBay (AVB) and BRE Properties (BRE) were upgraded to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.
• Covance (CVD) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Reynolds American (RAI) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BKS, GE, GSK, ITW, MMM, MXIM, NETL, NOK, RAI, RDC, TYC ...

Analyst Calls: BKS, GE, GSK, ITW, MMM, MXIM, NETL, NOK, RAI, RDC, TYC ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

M & A. That's mergers and acquisitions. They're all over the financial pages. Intel (INTC) is buying Infineon's wireless division for $1.4 billion so the chip manufacturer can diversify beyond computers. HP (HPQ) or Dell (DELL) will end up with 3PAR, a cloud-computing company, at a cost of $2 billion or more. Carl Icahn, the billionaire financier, is making a hostile tender bid for Lions Gate (LGF), the film and television producer. 3M (MMM) is buying Attenti Holdings, an Israeli maker of remote monitoring technology used to track people, for $230 million. Exelon (EXC) is picking up a division of Deere (DE), a renewable energy unit, for about $900 million so it can enter the wind-power segment. Sanofi-Aventis (SNYNF) is trying to buy Genzyme (GENZ) but the board won't accept the bid of $18.5 billion. The board is open to better numbers. There are many more.

Is all this good for investors? Or is there some bad in there?

Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: M&A: Good News ... or Bad?

Comfort Zone Investing: M&A: Good News ... or Bad? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Sticks Return to the Mud (BAC, COGT, MMM, CSCO, HPQ, BUD, NFLX, GOOG)

Closing Bell: Sticks Return to the Mud (BAC, COGT, MMM, CSCO, HPQ, BUD, NFLX, GOOG) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading 3M: Time to Take Some Profits off the Table?

3M: Time to Take Some Profits off the Table? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Should Investors Remain with 3M?

Should Investors Remain with 3M? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Three Picks Paying Dividends Since World War II

Three Picks Paying Dividends Since World War II originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"For much of the market's rally since March 2009, the best-performing stocks were those that tilted toward the risky side. That is about to change," says Chuck Carlson.

The editor of The DRIP Investor explains, "Quality stocks -- larger companies with consistent track records, strong finances, industry leadership positions, and stable and growing dividends -- should lead the market going forward.

"Quality stocks now offer good relative value versus more aggressive stocks, and I suspect investors will be more focused on a value over the next 12 to 24 months.

Continue reading Quant's Top Quality Picks: Aflac (AFL), IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), and 3M (MMM)

Quant's Top Quality Picks: Aflac (AFL), IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), and 3M (MMM) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Jun 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Let's have a quick look at two Dow components. One is famous for its chemical products, while the other is known for its iconic sticky stationery.

Chemical manufacturer E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (DD) was, at the time of this writing, down $1.16, or 2.8%, to $39.79. A disappointment, to be sure, since the stock has been doing so well over the last twelve months. The following chart shows the upward bias, and one might have expected a decent trading day after the first-quarter earnings were released.

Continue reading Two from the Dow: DuPont and 3M

Two from the Dow: DuPont and 3M originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading 3M: Diversified Industrial Success Story

3M: Diversified Industrial Success Story originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Another earnings season kicks off with Alcoa's (AA) release of quarterly results Monday after the bell. Alcoa will be followed quickly by such other big names as Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), JPMorgan (JPM), and General Electric (GE), which should provide a pretty good view of how the economic recovery has progressed across sectors in the first quarter (though it's worth noting that year-over-year comparisons are essentially based on the bottom of the recession, as far as the stock market is concerned).

Here's a closer look at what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect from these companies.

Continue reading The Week in Preview: Alcoa, Google, Intel, GE Kick Off Earnings Season

The Week in Preview: Alcoa, Google, Intel, GE Kick Off Earnings Season originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading 3M Company Enjoys a Solid Day

3M Company Enjoys a Solid Day originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings and declared an annual dividend.
• Allstate Corp. (ALL) swung to better-than-expected Q4 earnings and also swung to a full-year profit.
• Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD) shares tumbled after it posted disappointing earnings tied to costs.
• The Cheesecake Factory Inc. (CAKE) posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings but sales were flat.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) earnings numbers for Q4 resulted in upgrades from two analysts.
• CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) higher Q4 earnings matched the expectations of analysts, and shares rose.

Continue reading Earnings Highlights: Allstate, Marriott, PepsiCo, 3M, UBS, Viacom, WWE ...

Earnings Highlights: Allstate, Marriott, PepsiCo, 3M, UBS, Viacom, WWE ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 13 Feb 2010 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.