3M sales fall 1.9% on strong dollar, slow economy

NEW YORK (MarketWatch)
3M  Thursday its second-quarter profit rose slightly to $1.17 billion, or $1.66 a share, from $1.16 billion, or $1.60 a share, in the year-ago period
Weighted average common shares outstanding fell to 702.6 million from 726.5 million
Sales fell 1.9% to $7.53 billion from $7.68 billion
 "The combination of challenging economic conditions and the strong U.S. dollar hurt sales in the quarter," 3M said
Wall Street analysts expected 3M to earn $1.65 a share on sales of $7.79 billion, according to a survey by FactSet
3M said it continues to expect 2012 earnings of $6.35 to $6.50 a share, compared to the analyst estimate of $6.39 a share