3M (Quick quote MMMMMM – Free Report) closed at $ 193.44 in the last trading session, marking a movement of -0.67% from the previous day. This movement fell behind the daily gain of the S&P 500 by 0.03%.

Prior to today’s stock market, shares of the post-it, industrial coatings and ceramics maker had lost 3.13% in the past month. This lagged behind the conglomerate sector’s 3% gain and the S&P 500’s 3.02% gain during this period.

MMM will seek to show its strength as the next publication of its results approaches. In this report, analysts expect MMM to post earnings of $ 2.45 per share. This would represent a growth of 0.82% year over year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate projects revenue of $ 8.92 billion, up 6.79% from the previous year’s quarter.

For the full year, our consensus estimates from Zacks suggest analysts expect earnings of $ 10.11 per share and revenue of $ 35.38 billion. These totals would mark changes of + 15.68% and + 9.92%, respectively, compared to last year.

Any recent changes in analysts’ estimates for MMM should also be noted by investors. These revisions generally reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with short-term stock price dynamics. Investors can take advantage of this by using the Zacks Ranking. This model takes into account these changes in estimate and provides a simple and workable scoring system.

Zacks’ ranking system, which ranges from # 1 (strong buy) to # 5 (strong sell), has an impressive record of externally audited outperformance, with # 1 stocks generating an average annual return of + 25% since 1988. Over the past 30 days, our consensus EPS forecast has remained stagnant. MMM currently sports a Zacks rank of # 3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that MMM currently has a forward P / E ratio of 19.26. This assessment marks a non-perceptible deviation from the average term P / E of its sector of 19.26.

Meanwhile, MMM’s PEG ratio is currently 2.03. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely used P / E ratio, but this metric also takes into account the expected profit growth rate of the company. Shares in Diversified Operations have, on average, a PEG ratio of 1.9 based on yesterday’s closing prices.

The diversified operations industry is part of the conglomerate sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 50, which places it in the top 20% of 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank measures the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of individual stocks within groups. Our research shows that the top 50% of industries top the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and more, at Zacks.com.