Earnings Preview For Illinois Tool Works (ITW)

Illinois Tool Works ITW is expected to publish its Q1 earnings report before the bells ring on Tuesday, April 26. Analysts are predicting earnings per share to be $0.63, slightly lower than a month ago, when analysts were expecting $0.64 per share. A year ago, earnings per share stood at $0.62. Illinois Tool Works is a Chicago-based multinational manufacturer of a diversified range of industrial products and equipment with operations in 57 countries. The company has eight segments: Transportation, Industrial Packaging, Power Systems & Electronics, Food Equipment, Construction Products, Polymers & Fluids, Decorative Surfaces, and Other. The company primarily serves the construction, general industrial, automotive and food institutional/restaurant markets. In April 2010, the company announced that it acquired Accessories Marketing (doing business as Slime), a portfolio company of Friend Skoler & Co. In March 2011, the company acquired SOPUS Products' Car Care business. Illinois Tool Works is a Fortune 200 company, currently employing around 60,000 people worldwide. Illinois Tool Works' shares lost 1.69% of their value in the past 30 days. Its shares performance was not helped too much, it seems, by Reuters Insider, which included Illinois Tool Works in its list of more than 80 companies that meet Warren Buffett's criteria for an acquisition. Analysts are currently bullish about the company's future prospects, however. Eight rating agencies currently hold a “strong buy” rating on Illinois Tool Works' shares. A possible reason for this upbeat mood among analysts is strong revenue growth this year. Analysts are predicting Q1 revenues to grow 15.8% on a yearly basis to $4.18 billion, while the projected revenue growth for the whole year is 12.4%.