3M Co. reported Thursday that challenging economic conditions and a strong U.S. dollar impacted its sales in the second quarter, as earnings edged up to narrowly beat analyst estimates by one penny.

The St. Paul, Minnesota-based company makes everything from Scotch tape to Post-its, Nexcare band aids and Scotch Brite wipes.

Net profit, for the quarter that ended June 30, came in at $1.17 billion, or $1.66 per share, compared with $1.16 billion, or $1.60 per share, in the same period of 2011.

Sales were $7.53 billion, down 1.9 per cent from the $7.68 billion seen last year. Currency impact reduced sales by 4.3 per cent, the company said.

3M noted challenging economic conditions and a strong U.S. greenback curbed sales in the quarter. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expected a per-share profit of $1.65, on $7.8 billion in revenue for the quarter. Shares, in morning trade, rose 3.40 per cent to $91.77 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The company's industrial and transportation segment – which provides abrasives, specialty materials as well as filtration products – saw sales slump 0.6 per cent. The health care unit saw sales rise a mere 1.1 per cent.

Consumer and office, security and protection services posted a sales decrease of 1.9 per cent, with the display and graphics business reporting the biggest sales decline of 9.3 per cent. The company blamed lower film volumes – which make LCD TV screens brighter – for the sales decrease in its display and graphics unit.

Revenue in the electro and communications division also fell 4.7 per cent. Looking ahead, the company backed its fiscal 2012 per-share profit expectations. It sees profits of $6.35 to $6.50 per share, compared to analyst estimates for $6.39 per share.

The company projects organic local currency sales growth of two to five per cent, with foreign currency translation anticipated to cut revenue by about three per cent for the year. 3M expects operating margins in the range of 21.5 to 22.5 per cent.