When Face Masks Are a 3M Big Seller, That’s Telling
A meager 2020 outlook signals the company won’t get much help from the economy to offset idiosyncratic woes from environmental litigation.
Face masks may not be enough to offset weaker demand from China amid the widening coronavirus crisis.
Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg3M Co.’s messy quarter does little to inspire faith in the company or the industrial economy at large.
The maker of Post-it notes, Scotch tape and wound dressings announced a pair of charges – $134 million for a restructuring plan and $214 million for litigation related to PFAS chemicals – that pulled its fourth-quarter earnings per share below analysts’ estimates. 3M’s particular issues aside, the company sits on the front lines of any economic swings, and there was scant evidence in its results that the great industrial turnaround heralded by President Donald Trump’s trade truce with China has in fact arrived.