3M Co., which makes Post-It notes and Scotch tape among other products, on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter profit rose 6 percent as strong results from its industrial and electronics businesses helped boost sales.
Quarterly earnings climbed to $761 million, or 99 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31 from $720 million, or 91 cents per share, a year earlier. The latest results were affected by an accounting change for retirement obligations related to certain assets.
Excluding that change, the company earned $796 million, or $1.04 per share, in the latest quarter.
Sales grew 5 percent to $5.33 billion from $5.09 billion last year, with local-currency sales up 7 percent, including about 2 percent from last year's acquisition of CUNO Inc. The company said currency effects lowered sales by nearly 3 percent.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of $1.03 per share on $5.4 billion in sales.
3M said it expects first-quarter earnings of $1.10 to $1.14 per share, including an estimated 2 cents per share for stock options expensing. It also projected local-currency sales growth of 4 percent to 7 percent, with an additional 2.3 percent contribution from CUNO.
Analysts expect a first-quarter profit of $1.15 per share.
