Navigating gains with Garmin (GRMN)

Posted Mar 6th 2008 11:44AM by Steven Halpern
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Nokia Corp. (NOK), Garmin Ltd (GRMN)

"Rivals may be creating a buzz in the market for navigational technologies, but Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN) will fight off its rivals as it always has, with product breadth and innovation," says Ian Wyatt in Top Stock Insights.

"Garmin, which first started selling products in 1991, has been on a run. Since 2001, the company has compound annual revenue growth of 30%; net income has grown 29% compounded annually.

"Through sound financial execution, Garmin has become a worldwide leader in providing navigation, communication and information devices, many of which carry global positioning system (GPS) technology.

"The automotive and mobile division, which represents the company's portable navigation devices (PNDs), dominates the company's business. PNDs are the fastest growing, most competitive and most consequential market for Garmin and accounted for 71.2% of revenue in third quarter of fiscal 2007.

"In the North American PND market Garmin's share is more than 50%, and its PND share in Europe is 20%. Itss market share is greater than 60% in aviation and higher than 30% in marine electronics. The company's main geographic market is North America, followed by Europe, and then - to a much smaller extent - Asia.

"Garmin sees GPS as a major growth industry and highlights the fusion of navigation components with technologies including the Internet, mobile computing, wireless connectivity, and real-time weather and traffic data.

"Its PNDs offer leading features to get you from here to there: Bluetooth hands-free units, MP3 players, audio books and real-time traffic conditions, among other things. T here are hand-held and mountable features, fish finders and chartplotters, dog trackers and fitness software, and flight instrument systems.

"There are lots of well-known rivals in the making. Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is set to acquire digital mapmaker Navteq, and there are devices from Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) as well that will challenge Garmin.

"In our view, Garmin will fight off its rivals as it always has, with product breadth and innovation. The company plans to put $155 million into research and development in 2008. And its financial success is reflected in a balance sheet that shows $3.52 in cash per share and a near-zero debt-to-equity ratio.

"Garmin has won with first-rate execution in the past, and there are few reasons to expect an upset now. This year may not be quite as off-the-chart as last year was, but it's still best to follow the leader when keeping your portfolio on course. We are issuing a 'buy' rating on Garmin with a $92 target price."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers the latest market commentary and favorite investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

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