Founded in 1902 as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, 3M Company (MMM) is an industrial conglomerate that employs 84,000 people world-wide. Overall, 3M defines itself in 6 segments: Industrial and Transportation (34% of sales), Health Care (17% of sales), Consumer and Office (14% of sales), Safety, Security, and Protection Services (13% of sales), Display and Graphics (12% of sales), and Electro and Communications (11% of sales). Operating margins are excellent as compared to segments of other industrials.

Last year, 3M Company sold thirty billion dollars of product, on which it earned $4.3 billion. Free cash flow generated was $4 billion. The market capitalization is $61 billion, four times equity on the books, and enterprise value is $72.5 billion, over two-and-a-half times assets on the books.

Analyzing 3M Company

One observation I've made about 3M is its deep roots in Minnesota, the American state with the largest proportion of ethnic Scandinavian

One of the things I learned growing up in an apartment complex is that few brands are perceived by the eye more often than the brands on our door locks. My memories of Trick-or-Treating involve rows of Schlage locks and, of course, stuffing kitchen bags full of candy thanks to a high ROSE (Return-on-Sweat-Equity) ratio. So when I recently asked a Maintenance Supervisor where he buys door locks and found specimens of this mechanical technology going for up to $100 and beyond at Grainger, I figured there might be another big bag of candy in store.

Wall Street's talk of a "conglomerate discount" in the ~$40 price of Ingersoll-Rand (IR) after Nelson Peltz, an activist investor, disclosed a 7.1% stake, makes now a good time to take a fun look the company behind attractive lock brands like Schlage and Kryptonite. (Nelson Peltz' Trian Fund Management,