No. of Recommendations: 3
3M - a depressing 2-year chart, but a solid past. Worth catching?
No. of Recommendations: 6
I opened a small position in early April and have seen it decline 12% since then. The big problem are the PFAS "forever chemicals". There could be unknown liabilities buried there should the harm be established. While they are phasing them out, the lawsuits could produce an asbestos situation for the company. Bottom line is that you have to be willing to hold with that known unknown hanging over 3M's head.
No. of Recommendations: 3
From a NY Times article on the recent PFAS settlement:
'Three major chemical companies on Friday said they would pay more than $1 billion to settle the first in a wave of claims that they and other companies contaminated drinking water across the country with so-called forever chemicals that have been linked to cancer and other illnesses.
The companies ' Chemours, DuPont and Corteva ' said they had reached an agreement in principle to set up a $1.19 billion fund to help remove toxic perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, from public drinking water systems. PFAS have been linked to liver damage, weakened immune systems and several forms of cancer, among other harms, and are referred to as forever chemicals because they linger in the human body and the environment.
Bloomberg News also reported on Friday that 3M had reached a tentative deal worth 'at least $10 billion' with U.S. cities and towns to resolve related PFAS claims. Sean Lynch, a spokesman for 3M, declined to comment on the report, which cited people familiar with the deal without naming them '
The liability of 3M could be even greater. In an online presentation in March, CreditSights, a financial research company, estimated that PFAS litigation could ultimately cost 3M more than $140 billion, though it said a lower figure was more likely.'
No. of Recommendations: 3
As someone who has kept one share of MMM for years, I can say that past performance has been awful. I've got years of dividends reinvested into fractional shares and barely any of them are positive, suggesting there never seems to be a good time to buy. Overall, it's been -45% or worse. I just chuckle at how lousy it's been. Thankful that I only bought one share to keep my eye on it. Obviously, I never added to my position because it's been down just about all the time.
But maybe someone buying now will catch an upswing? But I wouldn't count on it.
