MMM vs CL vs AME Stock Comparison

3M, Colgate Palmolive and Ametek Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
MMM 3M Co
$172.79 +1.9% 1M +2.5% 1Y
Market cap
$89.04B
P/E
25.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$25.25B
Div. yield
0.02%
Industrial Machinery Industrials
3 wins
CL Colgate Palmolive Co
$93.11 +8.2% 1M +19.4% 1Y
Market cap
$73.86B
P/E
36.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$21.05B
Div. yield
0.02%
Personal Care Products Consumer Staples
3 wins
AME Ametek Inc/
$242.89 -3.3% 1M +29.8% 1Y
Market cap
$56.18B
P/E
35.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$7.86B
Div. yield
0.01%
Industrial Machinery Industrials
6 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Ametek leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Ametek 6, 3M 3, Colgate Palmolive 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionMMMCLAMELeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $89.04B $73.86B $56.18B MMM
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 25.2x 36.3x 35.6x MMM
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 19.5x 24.8x 29.6x MMM
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +1.7% +5.2% +12.7% AME
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 14.0% 9.7% 20.0% AME
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 22.0% 27.2% 12.8% CL
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.6x 1.7x 0.6x AME
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.02% 0.02% 0.01% CL
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +2.5% +19.4% +29.8% AME
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +3.0%/yr +4.2%/yr +13.3%/yr AME
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 25.6% 23.3% 23.9% CL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 49/100 61/100 62/100 AME

Percentile Scorecard

MMMCLAME

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisMMMCLAME
Valuation 37 #129 of 203 47 #28 of 52 17 #168 of 203
Growth 59 #77 of 187 57 #22 of 50 63 #70 of 187
Profitability 86 #26 of 185 96 #3 of 45 92 #15 of 185
Financial Health 18 #179 of 219 51 #28 of 56 69 #69 of 219
Shareholder Returns 43 #87 of 153 53 #15 of 31 70 #46 of 153
Overall 49 61 62
  • MMM ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • CL ranked among 60 companies in Household and Personal Products
  • AME ranked among 222 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodMMMCLAMESPY
1 month +1.9%+8.2%-3.3% -0.8%
3 months -3.0%+1.3%-0.1% +3.5%
6 months +18.5%+10.6%+4.3% +7.0%
Year to date +7.9%+17.8%+18.3% +12.2%
1 year +2.5%+19.4%+29.8% +13.0%
3 years +136.1%+29.7%+74.5% +86.3%
3 years, per year +33.2%+9.1%+20.4% +23.1%
5 years +15.9%+22.7%+87.0% +68.6%
5 years, per year +3.0%+4.2%+13.3% +11.0%
10 years +24.1%+30.7%+441.8% +258.0%
10 years, per year +2.2%+2.7%+18.4% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureMMMCLAMESPY
Volatility, 1Y 25.6%23.3%23.9% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 24.7%22.2%22.8% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.69-0.150.97 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.100.831.25 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -53.4%-31.1%-27.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -6.0%-6.1%-6.1% -1.8%
52-week high $183.81$99.14$258.54 $779.14
52-week low $141.20$74.98$184.19 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleMMMCLAME
P/E now vs peer median 25.4xmedian 26.0x 36.5xmedian 18.6x 35.3xmedian 26.0x
P/S now vs peer median 3.5xmedian 1.9x 3.5xmedian 1.6x 7.1xmedian 1.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 16.1xmedian 14.0x 21.4xmedian 13.0x 23.3xmedian 14.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median 33.4xmedian 21.4x 19.2xmedian 18.4x 30.5xmedian 21.4x
P/B now vs peer median 21.4xmedian 2.2x 131.1xmedian 2.1x 4.9xmedian 2.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.71median 1.26 3.01median 0.97 4.06median 1.26

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsMMMCLAME
Revenue $25.25B $21.05B $7.86B
Gross profit $9.98B $12.72B $2.86B
Operating income $4.74B $3.13B $2.04B
Net income $3.58B $2.16B $1.58B
Free cash flow $2.68B $3.86B $1.82B
R&D $1.21B – –
EPS (diluted) $6.77 $2.54 $6.86
Cash & equivalents $4.84B $1.37B $495.45M
Total debt $15.00B $7.86B $2.04B
Shares (diluted) 522.60M 801.80M 229.86M
Enterprise value $70.48B $68.58B $54.30B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricMMMCLAME
P/E 25.4x 36.5x 35.3x
P/FCF 33.4x 19.2x 30.5x
P/Operating cash flow 24.6x 16.7x 28.4x
P/S 3.5x 3.5x 7.1x
P/B 21.4x 131.1x 4.9x
P/Tangible book 42.2x -79.9x 7.9x
EV/EBITDA 16.1x 21.4x 23.3x
EV/EBIT 20.9x 25.8x 28.1x
EV/Revenue 3.9x 3.8x 7.3x
EV/FCF 37.0x 20.9x 31.4x
EV/Operating cash flow 27.3x 18.1x 29.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.71 3.01 4.06

Growth

14 metrics
MetricMMMCLAME
Revenue growth (1Y) 1.7% 5.2% 12.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 10.7% 4.1% 7.0%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -1.8% 5.0% 13.4%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 17.0% 6.2% 7.9%
Operating income growth (1Y) -3.7% -26.9% 11.2%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 33.4% 1.1% 8.2%
Net income growth (1Y) 4.8% -29.2% 9.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 35.4% 8.9% 8.5%
EPS growth (1Y) 7.1% -29.0% 10.4%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 35.8% 12.2% 8.7%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 42.8% 13.7% 8.1%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -18.1% 12.9% 11.0%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 68.6% 14.5% 8.4%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -18.0% 17.9% 12.0%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricMMMCLAME
Gross margin 39.5% 60.4% 36.4%
EBITDA margin 24.4% 17.9% 31.2%
Operating margin 18.8% 14.9% 25.9%
Pretax margin 17.5% 14.0% 24.3%
Net margin 14.0% 9.7% 20.0%
FCF margin 10.6% 18.3% 23.2%
Operating cash flow margin 14.4% 21.2% 24.9%
Return on equity 101.3% 410.8% 14.2%
Return on assets 9.8% 12.9% 9.6%
Return on invested capital 22.0% 27.2% 12.8%
Return on capital employed 18.7% 29.7% 14.8%
Asset turnover 0.7x 1.3x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.0x 2.1x 1.2x
Stock comp / revenue 0.8% 0.8% 0.6%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricMMMCLAME
Debt / assets 37.9% 46.8% 12.3%
Debt / equity 3.6x 13.9x 0.2x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.6x 1.7x 0.6x
Debt / FCF 5.6x 2.0x 1.1x
Liabilities / assets 89.5% 96.6% 32.1%
Equity / assets 10.5% 3.4% 67.9%
Interest coverage – 12.3x 21.1x
Current ratio 1.4x 1.0x 1.2x
Quick ratio 0.8x 0.5x 0.6x
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.2x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 4.10 6.88 8.27

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricMMMCLAME
Dividend yield 1.8% 2.3% 0.5%
Net buyback yield 3.1% 1.5% 0.7%
Shareholder yield 4.8% 3.8% 1.3%
Payout ratio (earnings) 44.8% 84.3% 18.9%
Payout ratio (FCF) 59.9% 47.2% 16.3%
Dividend growth (1Y) 3.2% 1.1% 9.4%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) -21.4% 1.9% 11.3%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusMMMCLAME
Forward P/E 19.5xFY2026 24.8xFY2026 29.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $8.88FY2026 $3.75FY2026 $8.20FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +10.2%FY2026 +1.6%FY2026 +10.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +16.7% +11.7% +8.4%
Revenue, next fiscal year $23.87BFY2026 $22.42BFY2026 $7.96BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -1.8%FY2026 +10.0%FY2026 +7.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +17.6% +2.1% +18.3%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersMMMCLAME
Held by institutions 74.5% 83.8% 89.6%
Institutions holding 2,208 2,015 1,195
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.8% 0.0% +2.3%
Institutions buying 914 919 615
Institutions selling 837 720 399
Buyers to sellers 1.09 1.28 1.54

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

MMMCLAME
MMM 1.00 0.26 0.40
CL 0.26 1.00 -0.01
AME 0.40 -0.01 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, MMM, CL and AME?

3M (MMM) is the largest by market capitalisation: 3M (MMM) $89.04B, Colgate Palmolive (CL) $73.86B, Ametek (AME) $56.18B.

Which stock is cheaper, MMM, CL and AME?

3M (MMM) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (3M (MMM) 25.2x, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 36.3x, Ametek (AME) 35.6x). On next year's consensus earnings, 3M (MMM) is cheapest (3M (MMM) 19.5x, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 24.8x, Ametek (AME) 29.6x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Ametek (AME) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: 3M (MMM) +1.7%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) +5.2%, Ametek (AME) +12.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

Ametek (AME) has the highest net margin (3M (MMM) 14.0%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 9.7%, Ametek (AME) 20.0%). On return on invested capital, Colgate Palmolive (CL) leads (3M (MMM) 22.0%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 27.2%, Ametek (AME) 12.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Ametek (AME) returned the most: 3M (MMM) +2.5%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) +19.4%, Ametek (AME) +29.8%. Over five years, Ametek (AME) compounded fastest (3M (MMM) +3.0%/yr, Colgate Palmolive (CL) +4.2%/yr, Ametek (AME) +13.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Colgate Palmolive (CL) has the highest dividend yield: 3M (MMM) 0.02%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 0.02%, Ametek (AME) 0.01%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Colgate Palmolive (CL) has been the steadiest (3M (MMM) 25.6%, Colgate Palmolive (CL) 23.3%, Ametek (AME) 23.9%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, MMM, CL and AME?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Ametek (AME) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.