ITT (NYSE:ITT) executives used the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call to highlight what Chief Executive Officer Luca Savi described as a “milestone” year marked by broad-based growth, margin expansion, and strong cash generation, alongside preparations for the pending acquisition of SPX FLOW.
2025 results: revenue growth, higher margins, and strong cash generation
Savi said ITT delivered growth across “every metric” outlined at its Capital Markets Day. For full-year 2025, the company reported total revenue growth of 8% and organic revenue growth of 5%. Earnings per share increased 14% year over year, or 18% excluding what management described as a $0.16 impact from the Wolverine divestiture and a $0.03 dilutive impact from the December equity offering related to the pending SPX FLOW acquisition.
Cash performance was a key theme. Savi said free cash flow rose to more than $550 million, up 27%, with free cash flow margin reaching 14%, up 200 basis points. He added that cash conversion was “well over 100” and that the company deployed $500 million to repurchase shares early in 2025 while also investing in productivity, growth, and innovation.
Fourth quarter: first $1 billion quarter in orders and revenue
In the fourth quarter, ITT reached a new scale milestone: both orders and revenue exceeded $1 billion for the first time, management said. Orders grew 15% on a reported basis and 9% organically. Revenue increased 13% on a reported basis and 9% organically.
Operating margin was 18.4%, up 90 basis points, with management noting expansion in all segments. EPS of $1.85 increased 23% year over year, or 26% excluding the equity-offering dilution tied to SPX FLOW, executives said.
Chief Financial Officer Emmanuel Caprais attributed the quarter’s top-line performance to higher volumes and price realization. Caprais said operating income grew 19% in the quarter, driven mainly by operational performance and acquisition contributions.
Segment and operational commentary: IP, CCT, and Motion Technologies
Caprais detailed performance across ITT’s segments. In Industrial Process (IP), Svanehøj grew more than 50% in the quarter, while legacy pump projects were up 30% organically. Caprais said IP delivered 100 basis points of margin expansion, including a 350-basis-point improvement in Svanehøj EBITDA.
In Connect & Control Technologies (CCT), Caprais said revenue grew 11% organically, supported by aerospace and defense growth of 27% and 17%, respectively, while kSARIA grew 11%. Savi highlighted that CCT delivered 40% organic order growth in the fourth quarter, with contributions across product lines. In response to a question about lumpiness, Savi said connectors were up more than 20%, controls were up 70%, aftermarket was up 35%, and kSARIA was up 33%. He noted one item of “a few $ million” related to a Boeing contract price adjustment.
Motion Technologies (MT) commentary included continued outperformance in friction. Caprais said friction original equipment outperformed global automotive production by 400 basis points in the quarter, while aftermarket was up 9% from what he called an “easy” prior-year comparison. MT operating income grew 13% and margin reached 19.7%, Caprais said.
Management also emphasized operating discipline using its SQDC framework (safety, quality, delivery, cost). Caprais said both IP and CCT were below an injury frequency rate benchmark of 0.4, with IP achieving a 50% reduction in recordable incidents in 2025. He added that quality improved with 20% fewer claims in IP and a 60% PPM reduction in CCT, while delivery performance improved 600 basis points in IP overall and 2,700 basis points for the ANSI pump product line in December compared with the prior year.
SPX FLOW acquisition: expected March close, integration planning, and synergy priorities
Savi reiterated that ITT expects to close its SPX FLOW acquisition in March and thanked shareholders for participating in the December equity raise that funded the pending deal. He characterized SPX FLOW as a “significant accelerator” toward a higher-growth, higher-margin flow business.
On SPX FLOW’s 2025 performance, Savi said total orders grew in the mid-teens for the full year, driven by strength in nutrition and health, as well as mixers. Backlog was up in the high teens and book-to-bill was “comfortably above one.” He said EBITDA margin was in line with expectations and cited runway for expansion from volume growth, pricing, operational efficiencies, and synergies.
Integration work is underway ahead of closing. Savi said teams are preparing for day-one readiness, identifying best practices, defining priorities, and developing a future organizational structure and performance measures. He also said ITT has secured “many key leaders” from SPX FLOW ahead of closing. On synergies, he said expected G&A savings are on track, with continued work on procurement synergies and evaluation of footprint and best-cost-country opportunities, including leveraging SPX FLOW’s presence in Poland and China.
In the Q&A, Savi said most year-one synergies are expected to come from reducing duplication in corporate functions, while preserving what he described as a “well-run” business. He also outlined an $80 million synergy target over three years, describing the components as roughly one-third from G&A, one-third from procurement, and about 10% from footprint rationalization. Savi added that revenue synergies are not included in the 2026 accretion expectations and are more likely to materialize starting in 2027; he said the company has not quantified those commercial synergies but expects them to be meaningful.
2026 outlook: Q1 guidance and full-year expectations
Because the SPX FLOW close is planned for March, management focused on first-quarter guidance that excludes acquisition accretion. For Q1 2026, Caprais said ITT expects total revenue growth of about 11% and 5% organically, noting the quarter will have four more days than the prior-year period. All segments are expected to expand margin year over year to deliver more than 100 basis points of EBIT margin growth, driven by higher volume, positive price-cost, and fixed-cost controls.
At the midpoint, ITT expects Q1 EPS of $1.70, which Caprais said represents 17% growth, and 29% growth when excluding the impact of the December equity offering. He added the outlook assumes a flat tax rate, higher corporate expenses, and a share count of 86 million shares following the December offering. Caprais said the Q1 guidance does not include changes to intangible amortization accounting; the company expects to implement that change when the acquisition closes. He also noted the outlook does not include the impact of equity consideration to be issued to Lone Star at the closing of SPX FLOW.
For the full year 2026, Caprais said ITT expects mid-single-digit organic revenue growth and at least 50 basis points of margin expansion, supported by price-cost, fixed-cost discipline, and productivity gains at recent acquisitions. He said ITT will provide updated guidance that includes SPX FLOW at the next earnings call and reiterated the company’s estimate that the acquisition will generate net single-digit EPS accretion in full-year 2026.
During the call, Savi also commented on end markets, including expectations that global auto production in 2026 will be “flat, slightly down,” with Europe “flattish” and North America and China “flat to low single digit down.” In friction aftermarket, management said it expects the independent aftermarket to be roughly flat in 2026, citing a largely European exposure and a subdued regional growth outlook.
About ITT (NYSE:ITT)
ITT Inc is a diversified industrial manufacturing company that designs, manufactures and services mission-critical components and systems for global markets. Its engineered solutions support applications in aerospace, defense, transportation, energy and industrial automation. The company focuses on delivering high-performance products that enable reliable fluid handling, precision motion control and robust connectivity in demanding environments.
The company’s operations are organized into three segments: Motion Technologies, which provides precision components and aftermarket repair services for aircraft engines and industrial turbines; Connect & Control Technologies, which offers specialty valves, couplings, seals and proximity sensors for fuel, hydraulics and environmental control systems; and Fluid & Motion Control, which delivers pumps, heat exchangers and fluid management solutions for oil and gas, chemical processing and power generation.
