undamentalytics Newsletter
Sign in

Illinois Tool Works key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Illinois Tool Works had return on equity of 93.7%, an operating margin of 26.3%, debt equal to 278.4% of equity and a current ratio of 1.21. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Fiscal year2009Dec 20092010Dec 20102011Dec 20112012Dec 20122013Dec 20132014Dec 20142015Dec 20152016Dec 20162017Dec 20172018Dec 20182019Dec 20192020Dec 20202021Dec 20212022Dec 20222023Dec 20232024Dec 20242025Dec 2025LTMSept 2026
Gross margin34.0%35.2%37.4%38.2%39.5%40.1%41.2%41.8%42.0%41.7%42.0%41.3%41.3%48.9%50.7%52.2%52.9%53.1%
Operating margin10.2%14.6%16.3%16.7%17.8%19.9%21.4%22.5%24.3%24.3%24.1%22.9%24.1%23.8%25.1%26.8%26.3%26.6%
Net margin7.2%9.7%14.3%19.4%11.9%20.3%14.2%15.0%11.8%17.4%17.9%16.8%18.6%19.0%18.4%21.9%19.1%19.4%
Free-cash-flow margin14.1%7.8%11.0%11.4%15.3%8.7%15.0%14.9%14.7%16.6%18.9%20.4%15.6%12.2%19.1%17.9%16.9%17.2%
Return on equity11.0%16.3%21.1%27.9%16.6%35.6%31.5%42.9%38.1%65.3%80.2%67.9%79.1%90.4%96.9%110.2%93.7%101.4%
Return on assets6.0%9.3%12.0%15.4%8.6%15.9%11.4%13.2%10.6%16.2%16.8%13.7%17.0%19.3%19.1%22.8%19.6%19.8%
Asset turnover0.840.950.840.790.730.780.810.880.900.930.940.820.911.011.041.041.031.02
Current ratio2.001.982.303.001.632.232.842.222.381.632.902.521.841.411.331.361.211.29
Debt to equity35.5%30.0%39.8%47.8%65.3%108.7%142.0%183.8%181.5%226.5%256.2%266.2%227.7%268.6%316.1%237.1%278.4%298.3%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)8.4x12.9x12.4x11.6x10.5x11.6x12.7x12.9x13.4x13.9x15.4x14.0x17.2x18.7x15.2x15.1x14.4x14.3x
Effective tax rate20.2%30.5%20.2%30.3%30.5%30.0%30.2%30.0%48.4%24.5%23.3%22.0%19.0%21.0%22.7%———
R&D as % of revenue1.4%1.4%1.5%1.6%1.7%1.6%1.6%1.6%1.6%1.6%1.6%1.7%1.7%1.7%1.8%1.8%1.9%—
Capital spending as % of revenue1.9%1.9%2.4%2.6%2.6%2.5%2.1%2.0%2.1%2.5%2.3%1.9%2.0%2.6%2.8%2.7%2.6%2.4%
Free cash flow ÷ net income196.5%79.8%77.4%58.9%128.6%42.6%106.1%99.7%124.8%95.5%105.9%121.9%83.9%63.8%104.3%81.5%88.3%88.8%
Dividends ÷ net income63.7%42.3%32.8%30.1%31.4%24.1%39.1%40.3%55.8%43.9%52.4%65.4%54.3%50.8%54.6%48.6%58.2%57.4%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow32.4%82.2%101.7%170.7%121.9%402.9%136.2%139.0%92.2%127.7%105.7%81.1%108.9%170.0%101.0%112.3%121.4%123.4%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

3 of 6 checks passed · September 30, 2026
What it owns · $16.5bn
Short-term assets $6.6bnLonger-term assets $9.9bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $8.2bn
Short-term liabilities $5.1bnShareholders' equity $3.1bn
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $6.6bn of assets due within a year against $5.1bn of liabilities due within a year.
  • Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
  • More cash than debt $809m of cash against $9.4bn of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 298% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 190% to 298% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $3.3bn of operating cash flow against $9.4bn of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $4.4bn against $310m of interest.

From Illinois Tool Works's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

87 /100

Strong moat

How hard Illinois Tool Works's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

  • Returns on capital 20 / 20

    Net income has been a median 17.8% of total assets over 10 years.

  • Pricing power 10 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 41.9%, moving by 6.2 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.

  • Durability 18 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 24.5%; its worst year was 22.5%.

  • Cash conversion 19 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 17.3% of revenue.

  • Discipline 20 / 20

    The diluted share count fell 9.3% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.4% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

Head to head: ITW vs SWKITW vs OTISGWW vs ITWITW vs PH

More: Industrial Machinery & Supplies & Components stocks compared, Industrials sector, rankings of US companies

Figures from Illinois Tool Works's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Illinois Tool Works.