Oct 22 Reuters 3M Co raised the lower end of its fullyear adjusted profit forecast on Tuesday, after strong demand for its electronics and industrial products helped the U.S. conglomerate beat quarterly profit estimates.

Shares of the company were up 4.2 at 140.5 in premarket trading.

An uptick in demand for electronics used in vehicles and mobile phones boosted profit for the company, which had been grappling with a slowdown as high inflation led consumers to postpone bigticket purchases.

The broader industrial sector is also expected to benefit from a boost to consumer spending after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut borrowing costs in September, analysts said.

3M has cut jobs and spun off its healthcare business into a listed company in recent quarters to mitigate the impact from a demand slowdown.

Sales in its transportation and electronics segment, which makes display materials for mobile phones and automobiles, increased by 1.8 from a year earlier.

In its safety and industrial segment, which makes adhesives for industrial use, sales went up by 0.5 from a year earlier.

The company reported an adjusted profit of 1.98 per share for the third quarter, compared with 1.68 per share a year earlier.

St. Paul, Minnesotabased 3M now expects its fullyear adjusted profit to be between 7.20 and 7.30 per share, compared with its previous forecast of 7.00 to 7.30 per share.

Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai

Source Reuters