3M's Investor Meeting Scheduled For 3/17, Goldman Maintains Neutral Rating

Goldman Sachs has published a research report on 3M Company MMM in anticipation of the company's investor meeting scheduled for March 17.

In the report, Goldman Sachs writes "We expect 3M's investor meeting on March 17 to profile several attractive growth initiatives, but also to do little to shift the views of bulls and bears, with discussion of the controversial Optical business likely to be limited to Q&A. Following 2500 bp of underperformance in 2010 relative to our Multi-Industry coverage, 3M shares are +5% YTD, in line with MI, on +2% consensus estimate revision and +3% multiple expansion. Short-term investor sentiment seems to have improved on “2010 laggard” appeal and improving LCD TV inventories and pricing, and potential upside to 1Q consensus EPS could further add to near-term momentum. However, longer-term uncertainties persist. While most investors appear to agree that 3M's organic revenue growth will improve this cycle (targeted at 7%-8% vs. 4% last cycle), there is less conviction on performance vs. peers relative to balancing growth and margin expansion. Moreover, potential competitive and market pressures in the high margin Optical business in 2012 remains an uncertainty that is unique to 3M."

Goldman Sachs maintains its Neutral rating and $101 price target.

3M Company closed yesterday at $91.02.