3M's (NYSE:MMM) Earnings Under Pressure in Short Term

Commenting on their takeaway from 3M's (NYSE:MMM) annual outlook meeting, FBR Capital noted organic growth appears to be headed to strong performance in the longer term, but short-term earnings will be under pressure on higher tax rates and pension costs.

FBR said, "3M’s annual outlook meeting presented a mixed bag of takeaways, where even as we came away with increased conviction in the company’s longer-term 7% to 8% organic growth outlook, or much higher-than-historical average of about 4%, the near-term picture was a little less impressive...Other headwinds include higher pension and a tax rate that should mute 3M’s 2011 EPS growth in the 6% to 7% range, and we accordingly lower our 2010/2011EPS estimates to $5.72/$6.05."

FBR maintains their "Outperform" rating on 3M, which was trading at $84.24, up $0.05, or 0.06 percent, as of 2:20 PM EST. They lowered their price target on 3M to $98.