3M Co.'s debt leverage held below our 3x downgrade threshold at year-end 2024. We believe 3M should have sufficient internal resources to continue funding a series of legal settlement payments. We affirmed our 'BBB+' long-term issuer credit rating and our 'A-2' short-term issuer rating on 3M and revised the outlook to stable from negative. The stable outlook reflects our view that 3M can maintain debt leverage around 2.5x in the next 12-24 months. The company aims to boost earnings through innovation and productivity, while funding large litigation obligations and shareholder returns. S&P Global Ratings today revised its outlook on 3M Co. to stable from negative, as the company's credit ratios have stabilized after several years of financial and strategic disruptions.
