Sifting through countless of stocks in the Machinery industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Illinois Tool Works Inc. or The Timken Company because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company

Illinois Tool Works Inc. provides industrial products and equipment in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and South America. It operates through seven segments: Automotive OEM; Food Equipment; Test & Measurement and Electronics; Welding; Polymers & Fluids; Construction Products; and Specialty Products. The Automotive OEM segment offers plastic and metal components, fasteners, and assemblies for automobiles, light trucks, and other industrial uses. The Food Equipment segment provides warewashing, cooking, refrigeration, and food processing equipment; kitchen exhaust, ventilation, and pollution control systems; and food equipment maintenance and repair services. The Test & Measurement and Electronics segment produce and sells test and measurement; and electronic manufacturing and maintenance, repair, and operations solutions. The Welding segment produces arc welding equipment, and metal arc welding consumables and related accessories. The Polymers & Fluids segment produces adhesives, sealants, lubrication and cutting fluids, and fluids and polymers for auto aftermarket maintenance and appearance. The Construction Products segment offers engineered fastening systems and solutions for the residential construction, renovation/remodel, and commercial construction markets. The Specialty Products segment provides beverage packaging equipment and consumables, product coding and marking equipment and consumables, and appliance components and fasteners. The company serves automotive OEM and aftermarket, commercial food equipment, construction, general industrial, industrial capital goods, consumer durables, and other markets, as well as MRO markets. It distributes its products directly to industrial manufacturers, as well as through independent distributors. Illinois Tool Works Inc. was founded in 1912 and is based in Glenview, Illinois.

The Timken Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered bearings and industrial motion products, and related services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Engineered Bearings and Industrial Motion. The Engineered Bearings segment provides various bearing products, including tapered, spherical, and cylindrical roller bearings; plain bearings, metal-polymer bearings, and rod end bearings; radial, angular, and precision ball bearings; thrust and specialty ball bearings; journal bearings; and housed or mounted bearings. This segment serves wind energy, agriculture, construction, food and beverage, metals and mining, automotive and truck, aerospace, rail, and other industries under the Timken, GGB, and Fafnir brands. The Industrial Motion segment offers a portfolio of engineered products, such as industrial drives, automatic lubrication systems, linear motion products and systems, chains, belts, couplings, filtration systems, seals, and industrial clutches and brakes, as well as industrial drivetrain and bearing repairing services. This segment serves a range of industries comprising solar energy, automation, construction, agriculture and turf, passenger rail, marine, aerospace, packaging and logistics, medical, and others under the Philadelphia Gear, Cone Drive, Rollon, Nadella, Groeneveld, BEKA, Diamond, Drives, Timken Belts, Spinea, Des-Case, Lagersmit, Lovejoy, CGI, and PT Tech brands. The Timken Company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in North Canton, Ohio.

Latest Machinery and Illinois Tool Works Inc., The Timken Company Stock News

As of June 30, 2026, Illinois Tool Works Inc. had a $77.8 billion market capitalization, compared to the Machinery median of $3.7 million. Illinois Tool Works Inc.’s stock is up 9.2% in 2026, up 2% in the previous five trading days and up 9.03% in the past year.

Currently, Illinois Tool Works Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 25.1. Illinois Tool Works Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $16.2 billion with a 19.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 4.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $11.339 per share for the current fiscal year. Illinois Tool Works Inc. currently has a 2.4% dividend yield.

As of June 30, 2026, The Timken Company had a $10.1 billion market cap, putting it in the 78th percentile of all stocks. The Timken Company’s stock is up 68.5% in 2026, up 2.7% in the previous five trading days and up 98.5% in the past year.

Currently, The Timken Company’s price-earnings ratio is 33.0. The Timken Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $4.7 billion with a 6.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 8.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $6.145 per share for the current fiscal year. The Timken Company currently has a 1.0% dividend yield.

How We Compare Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Illinois Tool Works Inc.	ITW	B
The Timken Company	TKR	B

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong. The Timken Company has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Growth Grade breakdown above, both Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company have a grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s upward growth, further research should be conducted into both companies’ other financial metrics before deciding whether to invest.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Illinois Tool Works Inc.	ITW	A
The Timken Company	TKR	B

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a Quality Score of 95, which is Very Strong. The Timken Company has a Quality Score of 79, which is Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: Illinois Tool Works Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a better overall quality grade than The Timken Company. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Illinois Tool Works Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Illinois Tool Works Inc.	ITW	C
The Timken Company	TKR	A

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a Momentum Score of 44, which is Average. The Timken Company has a Momentum Score of 87, which is Very Strong.

The Momentum Grade Winner: The Timken Company

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, The Timken Company is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Illinois Tool Works Inc.. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, The Timken Company could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company Grades

In addition to Growth, Quality and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Estimate Revisions.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Illinois Tool Works Inc. or The Timken Company Stock?

Overall, Illinois Tool Works Inc. stock has a Growth Score of 73, Momentum Score of 44 and Quality Score of 95.

The Timken Company stock has a Growth Score of 73, Momentum Score of 87 and Quality Score of 79.

Comparing Illinois Tool Works Inc. and The Timken Company’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.