Lower costs help 3M profit top estimates

3M Co, the maker of Scotch tape and Post-it notes, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and backed its 2016 forecast as it cut jobs to keep costs low.

3M's shares were up 2.7 percent at $141.23 in premarket trading on Tuesday.

The company reaffirmed it 2016 financial forecast of a 1-3 percent sales growth, excluding the impact of currency changes, and earnings of $8.10-$8.45 per share.

The company, which cut about 1,500 jobs in the fourth quarter, said it took a pre-tax restructuring charge of $114 million. 3M had previously estimated the job cuts to save $130 million on a pretax basis in 2016.

Net income attributable to the company fell to $1.04 billion, or $1.66 per share, from $1.18 billion, or $1.81 per share, a year ago.

Net sales fell 5.5 percent to $7.30 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

Excluding restructuring charges, 3M earned $1.80 per share.

Analysts on average had expected fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.63 per share on revenue of $7.21 billion. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Anil D'Silva)