Garmin income rises 70%

By Anastasia Tomazhenkova: Garmin Ltd., the company that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies, posted that its profit jumped 70% as sales doubled in the fourth quarter, easily beating Wall Street forecasts, on strong holiday demand for the company's digital navigation devices.

Photo: Garmin income rises 70%

Garmin income rises 70%

Company's earnings for the three months ended December 29 rose to 307.3 million dollars, or 1.39 dollar a share, compared with 180.3 million dollars, or 82 cents a share, during a corresponding period a year earlier. Excluding favorable exchange rates, Garmin said its profit rose to 1.31 dollar from 87 cents a year ago.

Analysts predicted the Cayman Islands-based company would post a profit of 1.11 dollar a share.

Garmin said revenue increased to 1.22 billion dollars from 611.2 million dollars. Analysts predicted revenue of 1.05 billion dollars.

Sales in North America, by far Garmin's largest market, more than doubled to 836 million dollars.

"The strong holiday season demand we experienced clearly demonstrated that our products are well-positioned to take advantage of the growing interest in portable navigation devices," Chairman and Chief Executive Min Kao said in a statement.

For the full year, the company reported net income of 855 million dollars, or 3.89 dollars a share, compared with 514.1 million dollars, or 2.35 dollars a share, in 2006. Revenue increased to 3.18 billion dollars from 1.77 billion dollars.

Garmin said the quarterly and annual figures were the company's best ever, with strong sales growth in each of the company's operating regions.

The company predicted it will beat analysts' earnings and sales forecasts again this year.

Garmin shares surged 6.75 dollars, or 9.7%, to 76.25 dollars in premarket trading.