"We also saw not bad numbers from Emerson (EMR), PPG (PPG) and Illinois Tool Works (ITW) last week -- not bad, meaning simply these big companies didn't swing to colossal losses as could have been expected. Let's include IBM (IBM) in that parade, too. Think about it: Should these companies be making any money at all in this environment?" ("'Not Bad' May Just Be Good Enough Here," 4-21-09)

On stocks of companies that have significantly lowered earnings guidance, buy defensive puts. This works for Texas Instruments (TXN), Ingersoll-Rand (IR), Eaton (ETN), International Paper (IP), National Semiconductor (NSM), Sandisk (SNDK), Illinois Tool Works (ITW), Massey Energy (MEE), Parker Hannifin (PH), Estée Lauder (EL), Time Warner (TWX), CSX (CSX) and Norfolk Southern (NSC).

Illinois Tool Needs Work: David Peltier, portfolio manager for TheStreet.com's Dividend Stock Advisor newsletter, says avoid Illinois Tool Works as the company's 2009 earnings could be in jeopardy.
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With a strong bottom that occurred a couple months ago and “obvious resistance” (the short term “ceiling” for the stock) around $45, ITW looks like its making a positive turnaround. “You can buy now, but keep a stop around $35,” said Fitzpatrick.

I think you can find value in the resource sector on Obama's promise of infrastructure spending. If you want Obama trades look at Illinois Tool Works [ITW] and Chicago Bridge [CBI],” Joe Terranova said.

PE of 11, a PEG of 0.89, and it pays a yield of 3.4%.

We relied on Thomson Reuters' calculation of free cash flow per share, defined as cash from operations for the latest reported year, minus that year's capital expenditures and dividend payments, divided by shares outstanding. The result is a list of familiar names in technology, health care and manufacturing, as well as three oilfield-services companies knocked well off their highs, and, yes, a few healthy financial-services firms. Blue chips like Coca-Cola (KO), Microsoft (MSFT) and Merck (MRK) made the cut, as did Illinois Tool Works (ITW), Post-it-note producer 3M (MMM) and CME Group (CME), the Chicago-based operator of futures exchanges.

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