3M raises 2017 profit forecast; first-quarter results top estimates

(Reuters) - 3M Co (NYSE: MMM), which makes Scotch tape and Post-it notes, raised its 2017 profit forecast and reported better-than-expected quarterly results, helped by growth across its major businesses.

3M boosted its 2017 earnings forecast range to $8.70-$9.05 per share, from $8.45-$8.80. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $8.63, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Saint-Paul, Minnesota-based 3M also said it now expects organic local-currency sales growth in the range of 2-5 percent, compared with its prior outlook of 1-3 percent.

Net income attributable to the company rose 3.8 percent to $1.32 billion, or $2.16 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31 from a year earlier.

3M, which gets more than 60 percent of its revenue from outside the United States, is reaping the benefits of restructuring its business through divestures and layoffs over the past year.

Net sales rose 3.7 percent to $7.69 billion.

Analysts on average had expected adjusted earnings of $2.06 per share and sales of $7.47 billion for the quarter.

Shares of the company were marginally up at $194.76 in early trading on Tuesday.

Up to Monday's close, the stock had risen 15.2 percent in the past 12 months, compared with a 13.5 percent rise in the S&P 500 index <.SPX>.

(Reporting by Arunima Banerjee and Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Maju Samuel)

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