Illinois Tool Works Free cash flow decreased by 5.1% to $858.00M in Q4 2025 compared to the prior quarter. Year-over-year, this metric declined by 13.9%, from $996.00M to $858.00M. Over 4 years (FY 2021 to FY 2025), Free cash flow shows an upward trend with a 4.6% CAGR. This decline may warrant attention — for this metric, higher values are generally preferred.
An increase suggests strong operational efficiency and the ability to self-fund future innovation or return capital to shareholders, while a decrease may indicate heavy capital expenditure cycles or declining operational profitability.
Free cash flow represents the cash generated by a company after accounting for cash outflows to support operations and m...
High-growth semiconductor and AI infrastructure peers typically prioritize reinvestment, so free cash flow margins are often compared against R&D intensity and capital expenditure requirements of industry rivals.
cf_free_cash_flow| Q2 '21 | Q3 '21 | Q4 '21 | Q1 '22 | Q2 '22 | Q3 '22 | Q4 '22 | Q1 '23 | Q2 '23 | Q3 '23 | Q4 '23 | Q1 '24 | Q2 '24 | Q3 '24 | Q4 '24 | Q1 '25 | Q2 '25 | Q3 '25 | Q4 '25 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $477.00M | $548.00M | $695.00M | $249.00M | $420.00M | $612.00M | $655.00M | $615.00M | $705.00M | $856.00M | $908.00M | $494.00M | $571.00M | $783.00M | $996.00M | $496.00M | $449.00M | $904.00M | $858.00M |
| QoQ Change | — | +14.9% | +26.8% | -64.2% | +68.7% | +45.7% | +7.0% | -6.1% | +14.6% | +21.4% | +6.1% | -45.6% | +15.6% | +37.1% | +27.2% | -50.2% | -9.5% | +101.3% | -5.1% |
| YoY Change | — | — | — | — | -11.9% | +11.7% | -5.8% | +147.0% | +67.9% | +39.9% | +38.6% | -19.7% | -19.0% | -8.5% | +9.7% | +0.4% | -21.4% | +15.5% | -13.9% |