Home
Savings Rates
CD Rates
Bonds
Mortgage Rates
Home Equity Rates
Auto Loan Rates
Credit Cards
Brokerages

Garmin's management Seems Confused

Article Submitted by: AronLiv
Stocks - Options - Mutual Funds


I am not sure that Garmin is headed in the right direction.

 

Submitted: Nov 1, 2007    Views: 587    Comments: 4    Likes: 21   


I wrote an article in August on this site after Garmin hit $100.   I suggested that Garmin seemed cheap and that I thought that the stock might continue higher.  I also suggested that Sirf, then around $22, seemed like a better buy.  Garmin proceeded to go to $125, but and has just fallen back below $100.  Sirf is above $30 today after a stellar earnings report.

I am very convinced that Sirf is a buy and that it still has a helluva run ahead of it.  Provided their patents hold up (always a big if), virtually everybody will need to buy their chips in order to build devices that provide the GPS-like capabilities that everyone is speaking about building.

Recent developments have caused me, and the market, to be a little less certain of Garmin.  It all goes back to September, when Nokia decided to purchase Navteq for $8.1 billion.  Garmin, which relies on Navteq as a partner, went through great pains on CNBC to explain why they didn't view this as a threat.  Then, TeleAtlas, the other major mapping and map-maintaining company, received an offer from Tom Tom.  Tom Tom is a company very similar to Garmin, but more innovative and more focused on the European market.  Earlier this week, Garmin trumphed the Tom Tom bid buy 15%.

The very act of bidding was odd enough, but Garmin didn't do it quietly.  Management has gone out to the media and mounted a campaign to explain that this is a bid that they were forced to make because of Nokia's acquisition on Navteq.  Moreover, Garmin seems eager to make clear that this is a key acquisition for them at this point.  In other words, they are willing to go higher and even much higher.  While there may be a real strategy in taking this posture - they want to drive Tom Tom away as well as other potential bidders (including, by the way, Google, which in my view stands even more to lose in TelAtlas and Navteq are both acquired by other industry participants).  Nevertheless, I can't own Garmin while this is going on.

I also found this article on this topic to be very interesting.


Sponsor Updates and Offers

Sign up for Zions Direct’s free weekly newsletter.

Get market information, CD and Bond auction updates, new-issue alerts and more.

Related Articles:



21

Email this story Email to someone | Print Story Print Content | Add to reading list

Comments Received:

Jackie London

Both Garmin and TomTom seem to have decided that this is a matter of life and death. So, I would avoid Garmin here and I am not sure I would go near it if they back away.

Posted: Nov 6, 2007

ChristySchien
ChristySchien

They were clearly blindsided by Nokia's Navteq acquisition. As they realized how the industry dynamics would changing, they changed their reaction. They are now in a no-win situation where they either overpay for TeleAtlas and face years of difficult integration or where they face the wrath of their shareholders for taking the risk of being held hostage to Nokia and TomTom which will become their competitors. I agree that the company has shown great growth and the stock seems very reasonably priced at 100, but it is probably a sell here.

Posted: Nov 6, 2007

Robert James

They are going to need to go over TomTom's bid this morning. The stock has a lot lower to go down.

Posted: Nov 7, 2007

AronLiv
AronLiv

They dropped their bid for TeleAtlas this morning so I would retract this article. I sold at $99, avoiding the fall to $82, but am repurchasing at $99 here. See my other articles on Garmin. I think it is fantastic stock and management has proven their worth by dropping this TeleAtlas bid.

Posted: Nov 16, 2007



Add Your Comments:

Your Name:

Spam protection control:


© Copyright 2010 AronLiv All rights reserved. AronLiv has granted BestCashCow.com, LLC non-exclusive rights to display this work on Bestcashcow.com.

Financial products of all nature bear inherent risks and this website is not a financial advisory service; it is a forum for users to share and to compare notes and observations on financial publications. The website provides, free of charge, the technical and logistical apparatus and the medium for users to share and to publish financial information and to comment on publications. As such, the website's operator can not and does not take responsibility for information, observations or opinions of any sort or nature provided by third parties with whom it is not affiliated who use the website to publish, to comment or as a means of solicitation. Users are specifically warned against following any advice related to specific instruments, including, but not limited to, equity securities, that may be provided by other users directly on this site or on web pages to which other users have provided links on this site. BestCashCow.com can not and does not check or verify the qualifications and credentials of users who publish or comment on this site or on linked pages. Users should seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding all personal financial issues and evaluate the risks and applicability to their own circumstances of each financial product discussed regardless of who the publisher is or purports to be. Should you, through your use of this site, identify an individual or organization purporting to offer personalized advice, you bear all responsibility to ensure that the individual or organization has the qualifications that they may represent on the website, and that their advice is appropriate for your circumstances. On certain webpages, BestCashCow.com provides information related to rates on US-based savings accounts, CDs, short-term government bonds, and other US cash equivalent securities, also free of charge to internet users for their independent use. The accuracy of this information is not guaranteed, and the information, like all other information on this website, should not be construed to provide investment advice, nor to endorse a financial product of any sort.

© 2010 BestCashCow.com, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy.