Illinois Tool Works
Q1 2023 Earnings Call
May 02, 2023, 10:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good morning. My name is Rob, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the ITW first quarter earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.
After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator instructions]. For those participating in the Q&A, you will have the opportunity to ask one question and, if needed, one follow-up question. Thank you.
Karen Fletcher, vice president of investor relations, you may begin your conference.
Karen Fletcher -- Vice President, Investor Relations
OK. Thank you, Rob. Good morning, and welcome to ITW's first-quarter 2023 conference call. I'm joined by our chairman and CEO, Scott Santi; and Senior Vice President and CFO Michael Larsen.
During today's call, we will discuss ITW's first-quarter financial results and provide an update on our outlook for the full-year 2023. Slide 2 is a reminder that this presentation contains forward-looking statements. We refer you to the company's 2022 Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the SEC for more detail about important risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. This presentation uses certain non-GAAP measures, and a reconciliation of those measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is contained in the press release.
Please turn to Slide 3. And it's now my pleasure to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Scott Santi.
Scott Santi -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Karen. And good morning, everyone. As you saw from our earnings release this morning, we delivered a solid start to the year with results coming in largely in line with our expectations heading into the quarter. Starting with the top line, organic growth was 5% with four of seven segments delivering positive organic growth, led by food equipment up 16%, welding up 10%, automotive OEM up 8%, and test and measurement and electronics up 6%.
polymers and fluids was flat, construction was down 1%, and specialty was down 5%. Operating margin expanded 150 basis points to 24.2% with 100-basis-point contribution from enterprise initiatives. GAAP earnings per share increased 10% to $2.33, which was a new Q1 record for the company. Our free cash flow conversion rate was 86% of net income, which was in line to modestly above normal Q1 levels.