3M is raising its 2026 adjusted profit forecast to $9.10 to $9.15 a share

Adjusted earnings rose 12% from $2.23 a year earlier, the company said. Adjusted sales were $6.6 billion, up 4.2%, with organic growth of 3.3%. Adjusted sales exclude manufactured PFAS products. Adjusted operating margin was 26.2%, up 110 basis points.

Analysts had expected adjusted earnings of $2.38 a share on average, according to Bloomberg. The new full-year range tops the prior high end of $8.95 a share and is the second straight quarterly raise, according to Bloomberg.

On a GAAP basis, 3M reported earnings of $2.63 a share, up 70% from $1.55. Sales were $6.6 billion, up 1.0%, and operating margin was 23.7%. GAAP earnings included a $0.60-per-share gain from an increase in the value of 3M's Solventum ownership.

3M said the guidance update reflects year-to-date performance, its acquisition of Madison Fire & Rescue and a change in non-GAAP treatment of amortization. Amortization of intangible assets is now a special item for all periods presented. The company said the change adds about 40 basis points to third-quarter adjusted operating margin and about $0.04 to adjusted earnings per share.

For the full year, 3M expects adjusted sales growth above 4.5% and adjusted organic sales growth above 3.5%. It forecast adjusted operating cash flow of about $5.9 billion and adjusted free cash flow of about $4.8 billion.

"We delivered another quarter of strong results, including solid sales growth, continued margin expansion, double-digit EPS growth, and robust free cash flow," William Brown, 3M's chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Third-quarter operating cash flow was $0.5 billion, and adjusted free cash flow was $1.2 billion. 3M returned $0.6 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

On Monday, 3M entered into an expanded commercial relationship with a subsidiary of Amazon $AMZN.com Inc. 3M issued a warrant to another Amazon subsidiary to buy up to 3,162,015 shares of 3M common stock over seven years at $164.89 a share. Of those shares, 85% vest in line with Amazon's spending on optical connectivity products and other offerings for data centers, with full vesting once cumulative payments reach $6 billion. The rest will vest on event-based milestones.

3M is also investing to acquire about 4.7% of the common shares of Genius Electronic Optical Co., an optical technology company, to support work on its Expanded Beam Optics products, the company said.

3M stock rose 3.1% in premarket trading on Tuesday. The company will hold an investor call at 9 a.m. ET.