ITW reports record Q2 profit, raises full-year EPS guidance by $0.15 to $11.35–$11.55

On July 28, 2026, Illinois Tool Works Inc. (the "Company") announced its 2026 second quarter results of operations in the press release furnished as Exhibit 99.1.

The Company uses free cash flow to measure cash flow generated by operations that is available for dividends, share repurchases, acquisitions and debt repayment. The Company believes this non-GAAP financial measure, along with free cash flow to net income conversion rate, are useful to investors in evaluating the Company’s financial performance and measures the Company's ability to generate cash internally to fund Company initiatives. Free cash flow represents net cash provided by operating activities less additions to plant and equipment.

The Company uses after-tax return on average invested capital ("After-tax ROIC") to measure the effectiveness of its operations' use of invested capital to generate profits. After-tax ROIC is not defined under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). After-tax ROIC is a non-GAAP financial measure that the Company believes is a meaningful metric to investors in evaluating the Company's ability to generate returns from cash invested in its operations and may be different than the method used by other companies to calculate After-tax ROIC. The Company defines After-tax ROIC as operating income after taxes divided by average invested capital, which is annualized when presented in interim periods.

For comparability, the Company also excluded the discrete tax benefit of $34 million in the first quarter of 2026 from net income and the effective tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2026. Additionally, for comparability, the Company also excluded the discrete tax benefit of $21 million in the first quarter of 2025 from net income and the effective tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2025 and the year ended December 31, 2025. For comparability, the Company also excluded the net discrete tax benefit of $27 million in the third quarter of 2025 from net income and the effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Second quarter revenue of $4.30 billion increased by 6.1 percent. Organic revenue growth was 4.5 percent, led by 6.4 percent growth in North America.

GAAP EPS grew 10.1 percent to $2.84, while operating income increased 7.4 percent to $1.15 billion, marking the most profitable quarter in the history of the company. Operating margin expanded by 40 basis points to 26.7 percent as enterprise initiatives contributed 120 basis points.

ITW is raising its full year 2026 GAAP EPS guidance by $0.15 to a narrowed range of $11.35 to $11.55 per share, representing 9 percent growth at the midpoint. Based on current demand levels and prevailing foreign exchange rates, the company is raising revenue growth guidance to a new range of 4 to 5 percent and raising organic growth guidance to 3 to 4 percent, a 1.5 percentage point increase at the midpoint.

Our results reflect a meaningful acceleration in our capex-related segments, led by double-digit organic growth in Welding and Test & Measurement and Electronics, alongside strong performance in Polymers & Fluids.