3M to report earnings tomorrow. Analysts expect an EPS of $2.31 on revenue of $7.69bn

Taking a look at 3M ahead of its earnings tomorrow. Currently, its shares are trading at around $108.33 a share. For the first time since August of 2021, its stock price finds itself above the 200-day moving average, which tends to be a bullish indication. It has found some resistance around $110.70, leading to some profit-taking last week. However, it seems like a new minor support of $105.12 has been formed ahead of the earnings. A break below this support could see a further decline towards $103.25, approximately correlating with the 50MA. The major support sits along the 200MA, which at the moment reads $100.64. Towards the upside, a break and close above the resistance of $110.70 would allow investors to eye $112-$113. From a more technical view, we can see that the 50MA has crossed above the 200MA, for the first time since August of 2020. When this happened, the stock went to rally 25% in the space of 8-9 months. Now, it is not guaranteed that this will happen again and this is simply an analysis based on past price action. But an uptick in earnings would certainly raise investor sentiment. The technical indicators are a little mixed ahead of the earnings, the MACD is negative and falling but the RSI is positive and RSI (RSI – 59).

If we glance over at the weekly timeframe, we can also see the price has climbed above the 50MA, which again happened in August of 2020. Prices tend to pullback for to moving averages after breaking above them for a test of support, as did happen back in 2020. So it cannot be ruled out that a pullback may occur first before a push higher. The technical indicators are a little mixed ahead of the earnings, the MACD is negative and falling but the RSI is positive and RSI (RSI – 59).

(Chart & Data from IG)