3M Doing The Right Things And Still Leveraged To Cyclical Recovery

3M's core industrial business is benefiting from a strengthening short-cycle recovery, while 30%-40% of end-markets remain weak, notably consumer electronics and auto. An expanding manufacturing recovery could drive beat-and-raise quarters, and management has been restrained on pricing while still generating operating margin leverage. Opportunities like data center EBO interconnects and a fire safety JV look like low-risk, good-return investments, but 3M still lacks leverage to more dynamic secular trends like automation and electrification.