☰

Bolsa, mercados y cotizaciones

3M profit beats; company raises outlook


    CHICAGO (Reuters) - Diversified manufacturer 3M Co posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday and raised its sales and profit forecasts for the full year, citing strong demand in developing markets as well as "an improving economic backdrop."

    The news sent the company's shares up almost 4 percent in premarket trading.

    "By any measure, we are off to a tremendous start in 2010," Chief Executive Officer George Buckley said in a statement.

    3M (MMM.NY)said it now expects to report full-year earnings per share in the range of $5.40 to $5.60, up from a prior forecast range of $4.90 to $5.10.

    The company, best known for its trademark brands like Post-It notes and Scotch tape, reported a first-quarter net profit of $1.01 billion, or $1.29 a share, up from $563, or 81 a share, a year earlier.

    Revenue rose 24.7 percent to $6.3 billion, led by a 54.1 percent jump in sales in the Asia-Pacific region.

    Sales of display and graphics products -- things that make LCD TV and computer screens brighter -- jumped 42.4 percent and consumer and office products were up 14.7 percent.

    Stripping out a one-time item related to the new U.S. healthcare law, 3M, which makes everything from adhesives and abrasives to stethoscopes and insect repellent, said it earned $1.40 a share.

    Analysts on average expected earnings of $1.21 a share on sales of $5.94 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

    Shares of 3M were up 4 percent at $91 in trading before the market opened.

    (Reporting by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Dave Zimmerman)