This PPE supplier offers you gains

Article Excerpt

3M COMPANY $144 is a buy. The company (New York symbol MMM; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 575.3 million; Market cap: $82.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.3m.com) produces more than 60,000 items, including air purifiers, adhesives, bandages and components for medical devices. Investors tap its main brands, including Post-it notes, Scotch tape, Scotch-Brite cleaning products, Scotchguard protection and Thinsulate insulation. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, 3M is increasing its production of personal protective equipment (PPE) for doctors, nurses and other first responders. As part of that effort, the company is now teaming up with Cummins Inc. (New York symbol CMI). Cummins will make filters for 3M’s Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) driven by batteries. The deal could more than double the supply of filters for PAPRs. In addition, 3M has ramped up production of N95 face masks for U.S. hospitals and clinics. By June, it expects to produce 50 million masks a month, up 40%…