Sifting through countless of stocks in the Industrial Conglomerates industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in 3M Company or Berkshire Hathaway Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how 3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About 3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

3M Company provides diversified technology services in the America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Safety and Industrial, Transportation and Electronics, and Consumer. The Safety and Industrial segment provides industrial abrasives and finishing for metalworking applications; autobody repair solutions; industrial specialty products, such as personal hygiene products, masking, and packaging materials; electrical products and materials for construction and maintenance, power distribution, and electrical original equipment manufacturers; structural adhesives and tapes; respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection solutions; and natural and color-coated mineral granules for shingles. The Transportation and Electronics segment provides ceramic solutions; attachment and bonding, films, sound, and temperature management for transportation vehicles; format graphic films for advertising and fleet signage; reflective signage for highway and vehicle safety; light management films and electronics assembly solutions; chip packaging and interconnection solutions; semiconductor production materials; and data center solutions. The Consumer segment offers cleaning products for the home; consumer air quality products; picture hanging accessories; retail abrasives, paint accessories, and safety products; stationery and office products; automotive appearance products; and consumer bandages, tapes, braces, and supports. It serves automotive; commercial solutions; consumer markets; design and construction; electronics; energy; government; manufacturing; safety; transportation industries. The company offers its products through e-commerce and traditional wholesalers, retailers, jobbers, distributors, channel partner, and dealers, as well as directly to users. 3M Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance, freight rail transportation, and utility businesses. The company provides property, casualty, life, accident, and health insurance and reinsurance; operates railroad systems in North America; generates, transmits, stores, and distributes electricity from natural gas, coal, wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, and geothermal sources; operates natural gas distribution and storage facilities, interstate pipelines, liquefied natural gas facilities, and compressor and meter stations; and holds interest in coal mining assets. It manufactures boxed chocolates and other confectionery products; specialty chemicals, metal cutting tools, and components for aerospace and power generation applications; prefabricated and site-built residential homes, flooring products; insulation, roofing, and engineered products; building and engineered components; paints and coatings; and bricks and masonry products, as well as offers manufactured and site-built home construction, and related lending and financial services. In addition, the company provides recreational vehicles, apparel, footwear, toys, jewelry, custom picture framing products, alkaline batteries, logistics services, and professional aviation training and shared aircraft ownership programs; castings, forgings, fasteners/fastener systems, aerostructures, and precision components; and cobalt, nickel, and titanium alloys. Further, it distributes televisions and information, and grocery and non-food consumer products; franchises and services quick service restaurants; and distributes electronic components. Additionally, it retails automobiles; furniture, bedding, and accessories; household appliances, electronics, and floor coverings; watches, home decor and repair services; sells kitchenware; and motorcycle clothing and equipment. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

Latest Industrial Conglomerates and 3M Company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Stock News

As of September 4, 2026, 3M Company had a $86.9 billion market capitalization, compared to the Industrial Conglomerates median of $9.7 million. 3M Company’s stock is up 5.3% in 2026, down 3.3% in the previous five trading days and up 8.39% in the past year.

Currently, 3M Company’s price-earnings ratio is 30.0. 3M Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $25.2 billion with a 11.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 2.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $8.942 per share for the current fiscal year. 3M Company currently has a 1.9% dividend yield.

As of September 4, 2026, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. had a $1.1 trillion market cap, putting it in the 100th percentile of all stocks. Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s stock is up 0.6% in 2026, up 0.2% in the previous five trading days and down 0.06% in the past year.

Currently, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 12.7. Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $384.7 billion with a 22.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 10.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $34391.818 per share for the current fiscal year. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

How We Compare 3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at 3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
3M Company	MMM	D
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.	BRK.A	B

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

3M Company has a Value Score of 25, which is Expensive. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a Value Score of 72, which is Value.

The Value Stock Winner: Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is considered to have better value than 3M Company. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
3M Company	MMM	D
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.	BRK.A	A

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

3M Company has a Growth Score of 25, which is Weak. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a Growth Score of 100, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than 3M Company. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
3M Company	MMM	C
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.	BRK.A	B

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

3M Company has a Earnings Estimate Score of 59, which is Neutral. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 67, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than 3M Company. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other 3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Grades

In addition to Growth, Value and Estimate Revisions, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Quality.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether 3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, 3M Company or Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Stock?

Overall, 3M Company stock has a Value Score of 25, Growth Score of 25 and Estimate Revisions Score of 59.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock has a Value Score of 72, Growth Score of 100 and Estimate Revisions Score of 67.

Comparing 3M Company and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.