Dow Stock Looks to Extend Win Streak After Earnings

3M Co (NYSE:MMM) is one of several blue chips announcing earnings results this week. The company's fourth-quarter profits topped estimates, thanks to strong electronics, tapes, and industrial adhesives sales. 

MMM was last seen up 3.8% to trade at a new two-year high of $150.00, pacing for a sixth-straight daily gain as it looks to extend last week's 7.5% surge. The Dow stock also boasts a 56.1% year-over-year lead, and already this year has added 9.2%.

There's still room for optimism among the brokerage bunch, with seven of 16 analysts in coverage still calling the security a "hold" or worse, while the 12-month consensus target price is only a slim premium to current levels.

Bearish bets have been more popular than usual in the options pits, per MMM's 50-day put/call volume ratio over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which ranks higher than 76% of annual readings.

That pessimism is fading rapidly today, with 31,000 calls exchanged so far -- 10 times the intraday average volume -- compared to only 3,890 puts. The most popular contract is the weekly 1/24 160-strike call, where new positions are currently being sold to open.