3M health care spinoff Solventum boosts financial guidance as it repositions itself

The newly public Solventum Corp., the spinoff of 3M’s health care business, has raised its full-year financial guidance as its leaders work to establish a road map for the organization going forward. Solventum also delivered earnings-per-share of $1.56, topping estimates.

In its Thursday report, its first as a stand-alone company, the Maplewood medical device company projected organic sales growth of 0% to 1% for the year. It previously forecast sales growth in the range of -2% to 0%.

For the April-June quarter, Solventum reported sales of $2.1 billion, an increase of 0.2%. Yet, it announced net income of $89 million, a decrease of more than 72% from a year ago when it was still a division of 3M. One factor affecting the bottom line was a nearly 11% increase in total operating expenses.

Bryan Hanson, chief executive of Solventum, said the company is doing significant work to “reposition it for profitable growth and optimize the portfolio” as it transforms the post-spin business and establishes a long-range plan.

“We’re currently assessing primary markets and growth drivers,” Hanson said, in a Thursday night conference call with analysts. “We’ll also shift where we spend R&D dollars.”

One analyst noted that the company, which has only been public for four months, remains a work in progress.

“We see the company’s end-markets in good shape, but believe that it will take time for an experienced management team to create shareholder value as it repositions for growth and disentangles from the spin,” said Vik Chopra, an analyst with Wells Fargo, in a research note. “In addition, with a focus on debt paydown over the next 24 months, we do not see needle moving [mergers and acquisitions] as a near-term priority.”

Solventum manufactures medical and surgical devices, dental items, health information systems as well as purification-filtration products. It is currently based out of 3M’s corporate headquarters in Maplewood, however, its leaders haven’t specified where it offices might end up long term.

Solventum released its financial results after the market closed Thursday. On Friday, its share price rose more than 3% to close at $60.59 per share.

Solventum’s sales decreased in both the dental solutions and purification and filtration business lines. Dental sales were down almost 6% compared with a year ago. At the same time, sales were steady in its medical and surgical devices as well as its health information systems divisions.

Last month, New York-based Trian Partners, an activist hedge fund, disclosed it had taken a stake in Solventum. It is not clear what percentage of Solventum is owned by Trian, which outlined general goals for the company of “accelerating organic growth” and “investing to drive growth.”

Few details are known about what Trian’s position could mean for the company.

“As a public company, we don’t talk about any individual investor,” Hanson said on the conference call.