3M’s Dark Chapter Deepens as CEO Faces Beaten Down Investors

3M Co. has so many big problems on its hands that one veteran Wall Street analyst likened the conglomerate’s challenges to the Titanic — just after the iceberg.

“We’re talking more about rearranging the deckchairs when you’ve got these big calamities bearing down on the company,” said Deane Dray, an RBC Capital Markets analyst who has covered 3M for nearly 20 years.

That may sound like hyperbole for one of the longest-tenured components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average that generates more than $30 billion in sales and showers investors with $3 billion in annual dividends. Yet the magnitude ...