Citigroup Reports on 3M, United Technologies and Danaher

In a report released yesterday, Citigroup commented on 3M MMM, United Technologies UTX, and Danaher DHR. On 3M, Citigroup writes, “New CFO David Meline reiterated 3M's playbook for driving organic revenue growth the historical rate of 4% to the 7%-8% target through new products, emerging markets, and M&A. Shares are trading at the 15.1x2011 EPS, a 4% discount to large-cap peers and just below the midpoint of its historical (15%) to 10% relative P/E range. Our $99 price target assumes the shares remain at a 10% discount to peers on blended 2011/2012 P/E.” On United Technologies, Citigroup writes, “UTC is seeing strong orders across the board in 2Q from both short-cycle and long-cycle markets. Louis Chenevert noted that he is ‘highly confident' in the 2011 guidance that was increased on the 1Q11 call, and we remain comfortable with our 2011 estimate for $5.45, above the high-end of the $5.25-$5.40 guidance range.” On Danaher, Citigroup writes, “DHR historically traded within a 10% to 25% P/E relative premium range to peers. Our $64 target price assumes a 25% premium to our target group multiple of 16.5x on blended 2011/2012 EPS. We acknowledge that this may not be the optimal point in the cycle for high-quality defensive growth, but we find the stock is too cheap to pass up at current levels.” On 3M, Citigroup has a Hold/Medium Risk rating and a price target of $99. On United Technologies, Citigroup has a Hold/Medium Risk rating and a price target of $91. Shares of 3M closed the trading day at $93.86 yesterday, down from $95.11 at the open. Shares of United Technologies closed yesterday at $87.82, down from $88.71 at open. Shares of Danaher closed at $53.55, down from $53.80 at open.