July 28 (Reuters) - Illinois Tool Works ( ITW ) on Tuesday

lifted its annual profit forecast above Wall Street estimates

after posting a better-than-expected profit for the second

quarter, driven by strong demand in its welding and industrial

testing businesses.

Shares of the company rose more than 3% in premarket

trading.

* The industrial parts and equipment maker benefited from

resilient demand for its welding, testing and specialty

chemicals products even amid economic uncertainty.

* The company now sees 2026 adjusted per share profit

between $11.35 and $11.55, from its prior expectations of $11.10

to$11.50 per share.

* Illinois Tool Works ( ITW ) now sees annual revenue growth of 4%

to 5%, compared with its previous forecast of 2% to 4%.

* Its revenue in the Test & Measurement and Electronics

business grew 12% to $769 million and Polymers & Fluids business

rose 8.7% to $476 million from a year earlier.

* Quarterly revenue for the automotive OEM segment, the

biggest contributor to overall revenue, was $857 million,

compared with $845 million a year ago. The segment supplies

components and fasteners to automakers including Ford and

BMW.

* Its profit rose 10% to $2.84 per share in the quarter

ended June 30, up from $2.58 per share a year ago. Analysts, on

an average, expected a profit of $2.79 per share.

* Illinois Tool Works' ( ITW ) second-quarter revenue rose 6.1% to

$4.3 billion, compared with $4.05 billion a year earlier.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain and Apratim Sarkar in Bengaluru;

Editing by Devika Syamnath)