shares of 3m and the dupont family of companies are up a lot in friday trading there has been positive movement on litigation related to socalled pfas chemicals that have been found in ground water friday dupont ticker dd chemours cc and corteva ctva announced a settlement with water providers across much of the us the three will contribute about 12 billion to a settlement fund that money can be used to monitor and clean up pfas the three companies are involved because the were once part of a larger dupont pfas litigation has been an overhang for years the settlement is an important market for investors looking to size the total liability pfas short for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances were manufactured in the us from the 1940s through 2000 they are longlasting and can continue to harm people’s health according to the environmental protection agency states and municipalities are cleaning up sites involved in the manufacture of the chemicals while governments are pursuing liability suits seeking money from producers dupont stock is up 83 chemours and corteva shares have gained 235 and 35 respectively the moves have added about 5 billion in market value to the three companies the change in chemours is larger because it has the smallest market capitalization of the three by far chemours will contribute about 50 of the money dupont will contribute about 34 to the fund with corteva contributing about 16 the settlement doesn’t cover personalinjury litigation or litigation from states’ attorneys general still the market is happy because there is some certainty on part of the liability and because the settlement is nine figures and not 10 figures 3m mmm appears to have larger pfas liabilities that any one of the dupontrelated companies bloomberg reported friday that 3m was in talks for a similar settlement in the range of 10 billion 3m didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the report 3m stock is up 84 which adds about 4 billion in market value to the stock 3m has been dogged by legal woes for years wall street estimates for the total litigation overhang in 3m stock is in the range from 30 billion to 40 billion analysts typically arrive at those estimates by taking a fair pricetoearnings ratio for 3m stock based on history working out the market capitalization of the company based on that ratio and then comparing that capitalization to the current market cap of about 56 billion it’s only a rough guide but a useful one for investors to keep in mind 3m stock currently trades at about 10 times estimated 2024 earnings nearly half the sp 500 multiple of 18 times estimated 2024 earnings before recent legal problems shares would trade at or above the sp 500 multiple along with pfas 3m also faces liabilities from potentially faulty ear plugs sold to the military so while the pfas settlement is a positive some outsize legal risk remains for the maker of postit notes