TacticScaleWhat Illinois Tool Works Does & How It Makes Money (ITW)
Updated October 2026 · reflects Illinois Tool Works's latest reported financials
Diversified maker of industrial components, equipment and consumables across seven segments. ITW earns revenue by selling engineered components, equipment and recurring consumables such as welding wire, fluids and coding supplies, plus food equipment maintenance and repair services.
How Illinois Tool Works makes money
ITW earns revenue by selling engineered components, equipment and recurring consumables such as welding wire, fluids and coding supplies, plus food equipment maintenance and repair services. It sells directly to industrial manufacturers and through independent distributors.
What Illinois Tool Works does
Illinois Tool Works is a diversified industrial manufacturer founded in 1912 and based in Glenview, Illinois. It operates through seven segments: Automotive OEM, Food Equipment, Test & Measurement and Electronics, Welding, Polymers & Fluids, Construction Products, and Specialty Products. Its products range from vehicle fasteners and assemblies to commercial kitchen equipment, arc welding gear, adhesives and lubricants, construction fastening systems, beverage packaging, and product coding equipment. ITW serves automotive OEM and aftermarket, commercial food equipment, construction, general industrial, capital goods, consumer durables and MRO markets in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America. It sells directly to manufacturers and through independent distributors, and much of its revenue comes from consumables and services as well as equipment.
Products & services
- Automotive plastic and metal fasteners and components
- Commercial warewashing, cooking and refrigeration equipment
- Arc welding equipment and consumables
- Adhesives, sealants and lubrication fluids
- Engineered fastening systems for construction
- Test and measurement instruments
What is Illinois Tool Works worth?
On an owner-earnings DCF, Illinois Tool Works's most-likely value is about $202 versus a recent price near $264 (24% above fair value). But TacticScale only calls a stock undervalued when the price sits below its conservative no-growth floor (~$104) with a margin of safety — so the honest verdict here is “Fairly priced — no edge.” Fair value earns its keep only at the extremes, not in the wide middle.
Price sits in the normal range — fair value isn't actionable here; it earns its keep only when price drops below the no-growth floor, or runs to roughly double the optimistic case.
Analysis, not advice. Fair value is a margin-of-safety estimate from a deterministic owner-earnings DCF, not a price target or recommendation. See the full breakdown →
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