3M posts higher quarterly earnings

The company, whose products range from Scotch tape to optical films for liquid crystal displays, posted third-quarter net income of $991 million, or $1.41 per share, compared with $960 million, or $1.32 per share, a year earlier.

Factoring out special items, the St. Paul, Minnesota-based company posted earnings of $1.42 per share, which compares with analyst estimates of $1.38 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 6.2 percent to $6.56 billion, just missing analyst estimates of $6.67 billion.

3M (MMM.NY)sees 2008 earnings in the range of $5.40 to $5.48 per share, excluding special items.

3M's broad lineup of businesses -- from high-tech industrial products such as chemicals used in aircraft maintenance to basic consumer goods like Post-It notes -- make it a bellwether of the U.S. economy. With demand slowing in the United States, 3M has been relying on emerging markets for growth.

Its shares are down about 32 percent so far this year, about even with the Dow Jones industrial average , of which it is a component.

3M's shares were up about 3.6 percent in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Helen Chernikoff, editing by Maureen Bavdek)