3M's 1st Quarter Beats Wall Street Expectations

ST PAUL, Minn. (AP) — 3M's first-quarter results beat analysts' estimates, helped by lower expenses.

The maker of Post-it notes, industrial coatings and ceramics earned $1.27 billion, or $2.05 per share, for the three months ended March 31. A year earlier the St. Paul, Minnesota-based company earned $1.2 billion, or $1.85 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.92 per share.

Total operating expenses declined to $5.62 billion from $5.85 billion.

Revenue fell to $7.41 billion from $7.58 billion, hurt by weaker sales in the electronics and energy and industrial segments. Still, the performance topped the $7.32 billion in revenue that analysts polled by Zacks predicted.

3M Co. still foresees full-year earnings between $8.10 and $8.45 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect earnings of $8.24 per share.