(Reuters) – Industrial giant 3M Co on Monday forecast a slower pace of sales growth in 2022 and a 45 cent hit to its per-share earnings, as demand for its masks wanes due to the global vaccination drive against COVID-19.
The company is expecting total sales growth in the range of 1% to 4% for 2022, slower than a near 10% growth recorded a year earlier.
Full-year earnings are expected to be in the range of $10.15 to $10.65 per share, the mid-point of which was slightly above the estimates of $10.36 per share, according to Refinitiv IBES.
The company also forecast full-year operating cash flow of $7.3 billion to $7.9 billion.
In January, the company reported a 4.7% fall in its fourth-quarter profit after labor shortages and supply chain bottlenecks hit operations.
3M also plans to invest about $4 billion in 2022 toward research and development and capital expenditures.
(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
