Raising full-year GAAP EPS guidance by $0.10 to $11.30 midpoint
Guidance · revenue to 3%
ITW beat its own expectations in Q1 2026 with revenue up 4.6% and EPS up 12%, but the real story is the divergence between strong capex/semi-related segments (welding, test & measurement) and challenged consumer-facing businesses (food equipment). Management raised full-year EPS guidance by $0.10 and expressed growing confidence in the organic growth outlook, pointing to order rates exceeding current growth rates in the strongest segments. Q1 revenue grew 4.6% (organic +0.4%), with FX contributing 3.9%; EPS was $2.66, +12% YoY; operating margin expanded 60 bps to 25.4%.
ITW beat its own expectations in Q1 2026 with revenue up 4.6% and EPS up 12%, but the real story is the divergence between strong capex/semi-related segments (welding, test & measurement) and challenged consumer-facing businesses (food equipment). Management raised full-year EPS guidance by $0.10 and expressed growing confidence in the organic growth outlook, pointing to order rates exceeding current growth rates in the strongest segments. Q1 revenue grew 4.6% (organic +0.4%), with FX contributing 3.9%; EPS was $2.66, +12% YoY; operating margin expanded 60 bps to 25.4%.
Guidance · revenue to 3%
Guidance · revenue to 3%
Management expressed increased confidence in the organic growth guidance and highlighted strong order activity in key segments, while noting the guidance is based on current demand and not the higher order rates.
Semiconductor-related businesses grew over 15% in Q1. Management expressed increased confidence in the organic growth guidance and highlighted strong order activity in key segments, while noting the guidance is based on current demand and not the higher order rates.
Semiconductor-related businesses grew over 15% in Q1. Management expressed increased confidence in the organic growth guidance and highlighted strong order activity in key segments, while noting the guidance is based on current demand and not the higher order rates.
Management expressed increased confidence in the organic growth guidance and highlighted strong order activity in key segments, while noting the guidance is based on current demand and not the higher order rates.
“we are seeing order rates that are meaningfully higher than the organic growth rates that those segments put up in the first quarter”
“I think March organic was up 4% and in April we're off to a really good start with organic growth.”
“we expect meaningful sequential margin improvement more than 100 basis points we expect incremental margins to improve”
“the semi-related businesses, which represent about $500 million of annual revenues, or about 15% of the segment, grew more than 15%”
| 지표 | 기간 | 범위 | 중간값 | 상태 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | FY2026 | $11.10–$11.50 | $11.30 | RAISED |
| Free cash flow | FY2026 | 100% | 100% | MAINTAINED |
| Op margin | FY2026 | 26.5%–27.5% | 27% | MAINTAINED |
| Revenue | FY2026 | 2%–4% | 3% | MAINTAINED |
Order rates in welding and test & measurement are meaningfully higher than the organic growth rates those segments posted in Q1, implying potential upward revision to full-year guidance if sustained. — This suggests that ITW's welding and electronics businesses are capturing share or seeing an earlier cyclical recovery than the current guidance reflects, which is a positive lead indicator for the broader industrial economy.
Hi, good morning. I guess this is my first question. My first question, can you just, you know, help us understand? I mean, last quarter, it sounds like you were pretty, you know, positive on, you know, short cycle momentum, things improving, you know, your confidence level today with some of the, you know, uncertainty related to, you know, the war with Iran and macro and whether you saw any change in sort of the cadence of sales throughout the quarter or into April. And then my second question, can you just give us an update on you know, CBI, the contribution expected for 2026, and, you know, whether you're contemplating other parts of the portfolio that we're having a harder time with…
Yeah, thank you, Jamie. So maybe I'll take the first part and then hand it over to you, Chris, for the CBI question. I'd say in terms of Overall confidence. You know, let's start with the context that we came in right along with our plan for the first quarter. You know we talked about on the last call that we expected a step down from Q4 to Q1 and we actually on the top line did a little bit better than that. So I would say if anything we are more confident today. As we sit here today, I think it's important. to mention that our guidance today is based on the current levels of demand that we're seeing in these businesses. And in some of these businesses, maybe welding and test and measurement in particular, we are seeing order rates that are meaningfully higher than the organic growth rates that those segments put up in the first quarter. That is not included in our guidance today. Again, based on kind of our past practice, this is based on, you know, current run rates. And I think certainly maybe a little bit more of a challenge in maybe a place like food equipment, which we just talked about. But we believe as we sit here today, we have more than enough strength in those capex related and semi related segments to offset any challenges there. And like I said, we're more confident in our organic growth guidance of one to three today than we were on the last call. So that's maybe how I would think about it. Just one last word on automotive, because automotive did have a slower start in China. So you need to factor in that automotive bills in China were down 10% in Q1, and they're projected to be flat here in Q2. So we're expecting a pretty meaningful ramp from Q1 to Q2. uh with sequential growth in the in kind of the low to mid single digits we expect meaningful sequential margin improvement more than 100 basis points we expect incremental margins to improve um and if you just look at the uh the cadence that we outlined which i think was your other question you have the eps bit 48 to 52 we just did 23 in q1 which is exactly what we said on the call uh last time that would imply uh that for the second quarter the eps contribution would be about 25% to the full year. And as we sit here today, we feel very, very confident in our ability to deliver both Q2 and the full year.
ITW expects a meaningful sequential improvement in automotive OEM margins of more than 100 basis points from Q1 to Q2, driven by China auto builds recovering from -10% to flat. — The sequential improvement in China auto production is a direct read-through for auto parts suppliers and OEMs, suggesting a stabilization in the world's largest auto market.
Hi, good morning. I guess this is my first question. My first question, can you just, you know, help us understand? I mean, last quarter, it sounds like you were pretty, you know, positive on, you know, short cycle momentum, things improving, you know, your confidence level today with some of the, you know, uncertainty related to, you know, the war with Iran and macro and whether you saw any change in sort of the cadence of sales throughout the quarter or into April. And then my second question, can you just give us an update on you know, CBI, the contribution expected for 2026, and, you know, whether you're contemplating other parts of the portfolio that we're having a harder time with…
Yeah, thank you, Jamie. So maybe I'll take the first part and then hand it over to you, Chris, for the CBI question. I'd say in terms of Overall confidence. You know, let's start with the context that we came in right along with our plan for the first quarter. You know we talked about on the last call that we expected a step down from Q4 to Q1 and we actually on the top line did a little bit better than that. So I would say if anything we are more confident today. As we sit here today, I think it's important. to mention that our guidance today is based on the current levels of demand that we're seeing in these businesses. And in some of these businesses, maybe welding and test and measurement in particular, we are seeing order rates that are meaningfully higher than the organic growth rates that those segments put up in the first quarter. That is not included in our guidance today. Again, based on kind of our past practice, this is based on, you know, current run rates. And I think certainly maybe a little bit more of a challenge in maybe a place like food equipment, which we just talked about. But we believe as we sit here today, we have more than enough strength in those capex related and semi related segments to offset any challenges there. And like I said, we're more confident in our organic growth guidance of one to three today than we were on the last call. So that's maybe how I would think about it. Just one last word on automotive, because automotive did have a slower start in China. So you need to factor in that automotive bills in China were down 10% in Q1, and they're projected to be flat here in Q2. So we're expecting a pretty meaningful ramp from Q1 to Q2. uh with sequential growth in the in kind of the low to mid single digits we expect meaningful sequential margin improvement more than 100 basis points we expect incremental margins to improve um and if you just look at the uh the cadence that we outlined which i think was your other question you have the eps bit 48 to 52 we just did 23 in q1 which is exactly what we said on the call uh last time that would imply uh that for the second quarter the eps contribution would be about 25% to the full year. And as we sit here today, we feel very, very confident in our ability to deliver both Q2 and the full year.
ITW's electronics and semi-related businesses (about $500M annual revenue, 15% of the segment) grew more than 15% in Q1, with strong order activity supporting sustainability of the recovery. — This points to strengthening capex in the semiconductor manufacturing chain, a leading indicator for wafer fab equipment makers.
… growth rate in three years, as the green shoots we talked about last quarter begin to look more like a sustainable recovery. Through this recent down cycle, our division stayed invested in their long-term growth strategies, including capacity and new products, and their uniquely positioned to meet growing customer demand and fully capitalize on the growth opportunities in front of them. As a result, electronics grew 10% this quarter, and the semi-related businesses, which represent about $500 million of annual revenues, or about 15% of the segment, grew more than 15%. Looking ahead, market indicators, like increasing fabulization, encouraging customer signals and response to new products, as well as strong odor activity all support the view that the positive demand trends that we're seeing in this segment today are sustainable in the near term. Moving on to side six. Welding delivered another strong top line performance as revenue grew 7% with organic growth of 6%. Equipment grew 8% with a strong contribution from new products. North America was the primary growth engine of 8% with mid-single-digit growth in filler metals. The growth was broad-based, with mid- to …
March organic growth was up 4% and April is tracking toward the high end of the 1-3% full-year range, indicating an accelerating growth trajectory through Q1 into Q2.
Got it. Okay. Thank you for that. And then, Michael, It sounded like there was a margin thing that happened in the quarter that was very specific. Should we assume 2Q is kind of back to normal?
Yeah, I think there's really nothing unusual about Q1, I'd say, other than the slow start maybe in food equipment. I think if you look at kind of how the quarter progressed, you know, January started out a little bit slower because of food equipment, and then we improved from a growth standpoint in February, got even better in March. I think March organic was up 4% and in April we're off to a really good start with organic growth. If you look at our full year guidance range, one to three, we're probably turning towards the high end of that range here in April. And so that's really the top line. And on margins, We expect a sequential improvement, like I said, from Q1 to Q2. We just did 25.4. We would expect more than 100 basis points of improvement sequentially from Q1 to Q2. So that will put it somewhere around, you know, 26.5, 27-ish. And then a little bit of improvement further from Q2 to Q3 on margins. and as well in Q4. From a growth standpoint, from Q2 to Q3, revenues based on run rates, again, are kind of about the same in Q3 and Q4. But that is all that we need to deliver some meaningful organic growth towards the higher end of the range in the second half of this year. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of context.