The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

3M maintains 2014 EPS guidance; lowers 2014 sales guidance slightly due to foreign exchange:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/3m-announces-record-first-quarter-113000934.html

3M maintained its full-year earnings expectation of $7.30 to $7.55 per share [GAAP] with organic local-currency sales growth of 3 to 6 percent. Foreign currency is expected to reduce sales by approximately 1 percent for the year versus a previous expectation of neutral to minus 1 percent.

“Organic” sales growth strips out the effects of acquisitions and divestitures.

1Q14 GAAP EPS of $1.79 was a penny less than the Street consensus of $1.80; the miss was due, in part, to sluggishness in Latin America. However, sales of face masks in China were strong—a sign of the ever-increasing urban air pollution there.

The stock closed down 1%.