3M's Consumer Unit Hurt by Weak Demand: What's the Road Ahead?

3M Company MMM has been experiencing weakness in its Consumer segment of late. The segment reported revenues of $1.27 billion in the second quarter of 2025, nearly flat year over year. This performance follows a 1.4% revenue decline in the first quarter and a roughly 2% drop in 2024. Ongoing softness in consumer retail markets, owing to muted consumer discretionary spending, remains a major headwind over the past several quarters.

Weakness in the packaging expression business is concerning for the Consumer segment. Also, continued softness in the automotive OEM business, due to low auto build rates, particularly in Europe and the US, continues to weigh on the segment’s performance.

Retailers are closely monitoring demand trends and limiting restocking activity, which has reduced demand for products across several consumer categories. MMM has launched new products under brands including Scotch-Brite, ScotchBlue, Command and Filtrete, but these have not yet brought a big boost in sales because of weak retail demand. 

On the brighter side, 3M’s Safety and Industrial segment is performing well, driven by strength in personal safety, roofing granules, industrial adhesives and tapes, abrasives and electrical markets. Also, improvements in service and increased investment in advertising and merchandising are expected to support MMM’s performance in the near term.

Segmental Snapshot of MMM’s Peers

Among 3M’s major peers, Honeywell International Inc. HON is witnessing solid momentum in its Energy and Sustainability Solutions segment, driven by ongoing strength across UOP, specialty chemicals and materials businesses. In the second quarter of 2025, Honeywell’s segment’s revenues increased 15% year over year. It contributed approximately 17.8% of Honeywell’s total revenues during the quarter.

MMM’s another peer, Carlisle Companies Incorporated’s CSL Carlisle Construction Materials segment is benefiting from robust demand for re-roofing products and healthy construction activity. Also, higher sales in the non-residential construction market in the United States and Europe augur well for Carlisle’s segment. Revenues from Carlisle’s unit increased 0.6% year over year in the second quarter of 2025.

The Zacks Rundown for MMM

Shares of 3M have gained 20.4% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 3%.

From a valuation standpoint, 3M is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 19.36X, above the industry’s average of 17.10X. MMM carries a Value Score of D.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MMM’s earnings has increased over the past 60 days.

MMM stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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