Garmin’s Third-Quarter Fitness Sales Rise 29 Percent

By comparison, the company’s total revenues rose 4 percent after a 13 percent decline at its largest business – Automotive/Mobile. The company said total units shipped during the quarter declined 9 percent from the third quarter of 2010 to 3.5 million units.

In the first three quarters of the year, Outdoor segment sales are up 5 percent to $242 million, while Fitness sales are up 28 percent to $203 million.

“In the third quarter, revenue again exceeded our expectations with fitness and aviation delivering strong growth even though macroeconomic conditions continued to be challenging,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Min Kao.

 

Kao said the outdoor results reflected contributions from Garmin’s recent acquisition of Tri-Tronics. “This was slightly below expectation as growth in the quarter was restrained due to the limited availability of new products,” he said. “Both our Approach S1 for the golfers and our Astro 320 dog tracking product sold very well. We have also seen our new eTrex, GPSMAP 62 and Montana series of handhelds gain significant traction with the outdoor consumers which we believe will be a contributing factor to improving growth rates in the fourth quarter as supply improves.“

 

In the Fitness segment, sales of  the high-end Forerunner 610 and Edge 800 remained strong. “While we have seen an increasing number of competitors in the fitness market, we have maintained our top position in the GPS-enabled fitness category by offering a range of products from entry-level with basic functionality like “how far and how fast” to the high-end Forerunner 910 for the triathlete market,” Kao said.

 

The company upped its revenue guidance for 2011 to approximately $2.6 billion and said its EPS range has also increased due to the improved margin outlook for the full year. “These factors and an anticipated effective tax rate of approximately 12% result in a forecasted 2011 pro forma EPS of $2.30 – $2.40,” said CFO Kevin Rauckman.