00:00 We have a significant development in the legal realms.
00:03 Industrial giant 3M is making headlines here
00:06 as its shares shot up nearly 6% in the pre-market trading.
00:10 This comes after reports that a tentative agreement
00:13 to settle over 300,000 lawsuits related to the combat air
00:18 plugs sold to the US military, the potential settlement
00:23 amount a staggering $5.5 billion.
00:28 I mean, they've talked even bigger numbers in this.
00:31 So if they can settle this out for $5 billion,
00:33 it's a win for 3M.
00:35 We know Johnson & Johnson is trying
00:36 to settle out their talc issues and trying
00:40 to do it for $8 to $9 billion.
00:41 And then that's not working out so well now.
00:43 So you struggle to think, is it going to really settle?
00:46 Because we've talked about this before.
00:47 And like, oh, yeah, they're going to figure this out.
00:49 Now it's talking about a settlement.
00:51 I mean, if it gets settled, it's awesome news for 3M.
00:53 But I'm skeptical that this is actually going to settle.
00:57 Once again, the courts dictating in the market.
01:03 With this one, I mean, you did get a pop to the 105 area.
01:06 And you did have some congestion in that area.
01:10 The next daily high I would look for would be 105.86.
01:14 The only reason I'm not chasing it here and not buying it here
01:17 is because I think that there's traders, investors, whatever,
01:21 funds that are just kind of buying it, maybe not at 102
01:25 or 103.
01:26 They're just kind of cagey buyers.
01:28 And then they're like, OK, if there's
01:30 some good news on the settlement, we're out.
01:33 We're up $6.
01:34 And that's just kind of the way I look at it.
01:36 Because you don't know until you know.
01:39 And wasn't one case like $1 billion or something?
01:44 Or there was one amount, there was
01:46 one case that was settled that was just
01:49 a fraction of what this is.
01:51 Well, that was Johnson & Johnson we were talking about.
01:53 Well, no, no, no.
01:54 There was also triple M settled with somebody on one thing,
01:58 too.
01:58 I don't have it on that.
01:59 In any regard, if they can settle this for $5 billion,
02:02 it's a huge win.
02:04 So this morning, they are plotting
02:05 this potential settlement here because it's less
02:08 than the market was figuring in.
02:10 I mean, give a perspective here.
02:12 3M right now is a dividend of 5.71%.
02:16 It trades with the PE just how much they've hit.
02:19 And it is down at this pricing because of these lawsuits.
02:24 This is why it is down.
02:25 But it's trading with a PE right now of 11, a forward PE of 11.
02:31 The reason it's so far down is they
02:33 don't know how big these settlements are going to be.
02:35 So if they can settle this out, this stock
02:38 could be a hell of a lot higher.
02:39 But I don't know.
02:41 Again, I'm skeptical because we've
02:43 talked about potential 3M settlements here before,
02:46 and then they seem to just not work out.
02:49 We talked about this, I feel, like six months ago.
02:50 Stock was up $7 or $8 because they
02:52 were going to get it settled, and then it just kind of fizzles
02:55 away.
02:56 So are they actually going to get it settled this time,
02:58 or is it just still talking?
03:00 That's the question.
