Garmin shares fall on analyst report, TomTom problems; Garmin unveils another glass cockpit
Shares of Garmin International fell to a new one-year low today as Dutch competitor TomTom said GPS sales are slowing.
TomTom today said first-quarter sales for the navigation manufacturer were $409 to $423 million, down from $464.5 million a year ago.
The company said sales for the year would be about 10 percent under previous forecasts.
That news, combined with a pessimistic report from Soleil Securities analyst Peter Friedland, sent Garmin shares down more than 6 percent in early trading.
Garmin shares hit a 52-week low of $48.77 before recovering to the $49 range.
Shares of TomTom also fell to a new 32-month low. TomTom also is being pressured by its proposed $4.2 billion purchase of mapmaker Tele Atlas.
Friedland, closely watched by Garmin investors, downgraded shares of Garmin from buy to hold.
The Soleil analyst cited price competition from TomTom and projections that spending on consumer electronics products will drop as the economy worsens.
Garmin has projected a seasonal sales drop of 40 to 50 percent after a record-breaking fourth quarter. The company is expected to report first-quarter sales of $615 million to $738 million, up from $492 million during the first quarter of 2007.
The news came as the Olathe-based navigation manufacturer introduced its third all-digital aviation instrument panel, this one designed for smaller airplane manufacturers.
The all-digital instrument panel, often called a glass cockpit in the aviation industry, replaces the traditional analog gauges and dials seen on airplanes with high-tech computer screens.
The Garmin G950 avionics suite is an off-the-shelf system designed, according to Garmin, to fill a niche between the company's top-of-the-line G1000 glass cockpit and the G900X. The G900X is designed for kit airplanes that don't need FAA certification.
Garmin said manufacturer Quartz Mountain Aerospace will use the digital instrument panel in that company's new four-seat, single-engine airplane.
Garmin introduced the new cockpit product at the Sun 'n Fun trade show in Lakeland, Fla.
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