ITW and Nucor See Tailwinds Sustaining Manufacturing Growth
Key Highlights
- ITW raised its 2026 organic sales outlook after strong gains across all divisions, signaling sustained industrial market momentum.
- Manufacturing indicators, including rising new orders and executive optimism, point to continued expansion into 2027.
- Industrial demand remains strong as reshoring, energy, data centers and infrastructure investments drive multi-year manufacturing growth.
Let’s add the executives of Nucor Corp. and Illinois Tool Works Inc. to the list of leaders saying the industrial upswing has legs.
Coming off landmark second quarters, in which Nucor set a second straight record for steel mill shipments and ITW posted the most profitable quarter in its long history, the top leaders of the companies said July 28 they’re confident that tailwinds from investments in the energy, infrastructure, data center and advanced manufacturing sectors will endure.
“The backdrop for the demand picture is […] broad enough and strong enough in enough channels and it’s driven by some fundamental reshoring, fundamental capital investment cycles that are probably multi-year in nature,” President and COO Steve Laxton told analysts on a conference call. “This year, we would put an estimate somewhere around 2% up on demand overall. […] We see strength at least for the next couple of years in that same band or more.”
At ITW, which comprises seven divisions that are on pace to book 2026 sales of $1.8 billion or more, President and CEO Christopher O’Herlihy and his team have raised their forecast for 2026 organic sales growth by 1.5 percentage points to a range of 3% to 4%. That comes after a spring quarter in which each division grew more quickly versus the first three months of the year than is typical, and one in which ITW’s test/measurement and electronics business posted 10% organic growth and its welding group topped that with 14% organic growth.
CFO Michael Larsen said on ITW’s conference call that standing out in the welding group was North America, which represents about 85% of its sales. “Broad-based growth across both industrial and commercial markets” pushed organic sales up 19% from the same period of last year.
Much of that strength has persisted into the summer, Larsen added.
“April was off to a really good start, [we] sustained that in May and June was even better than that. And we’re off to a good start here to Q3, right in track with where we want to be,” he said. “That was kind of the big new news: The acceleration in demand that we also talked about on the last earnings call, it really continued throughout the second quarter and into the third quarter.”
The results and upbeat outlooks from Nucor and ITW echo recent assessments from industrial distributors as well as notable names such as General Motors, 3M and Cleveland-Cliffs. (See the sidebar on the right.) The leaders of most of those companies also cited the tailwinds from data centers and energy and other infrastructure projects as well as strength in the aerospace and defense industries as giving them cause to be optimistic about the rest of this year and 2027.
Recent reports are supporting those outlooks. The Institute for Supply Management’s closely watched Manufacturing PMI most recently showed that new orders have expanded for six straight months. This week’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas showed “a notable improvement in outlooks” from executives in the Lone Star State, adding to a streak of upbeat reading that started in the spring.
Investors were enthusiastic about the reports and commentary from both Nucor and ITW. Shares of the former (Ticker: NUE) climbed more than 7% to $265 and change, adding to gains that have lifted the stock more than 60% year to date. ITW shares (Ticker: ITW) rose nearly 4% to about $295 and are now up 20% so far in 2026.
About the Author
Geert De Lombaerde
Senior Editor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde has been in business journalism since the mid-1990s and writes about public companies, markets and economic trends for Endeavor Business Media publications, focusing on IndustryWeek, FleetOwner, Oil & Gas Journal, T&D World and Healthcare Innovation. He also curates the twice-monthly Market Moves Strategy newsletter that showcases Endeavor stories on strategy, leadership and investment and contributes to other Market Moves newsletters.
With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati in 1997, initially covering retail and the courts before shifting to banking, insurance and investing. He later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal before being named editor of the Nashville Post in early 2008. He led a team that helped grow the Post's online traffic more than fivefold before joining Endeavor in September 2021.