Garmin Surges On Q4 Beat, Encouraging Guidance

Shares of Garmin Ltd. GRMN surged by more than 7 percent early Wednesday morning after the company reported its fourth quarter results.

Garmin said it earned $0.74 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $781 million. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.48 per share on revenue of $760 million.

Revenue from Garmin's Outdoor, Fitness, Marine and Aviation segments all posted year-over-year net sales gains. The lone segment that saw a drop in revenue was Auto as net sales fell to $268.48 million from $339.83 million a year ago.

Garmin's Fitness segment recorded the largest year-over-year increase in revenue as net sales rose 14 percent to $228.74 million. However, the segment's gross margin fell to 51 percent, while operating margin fell to 18 percent due to holiday promotions and an unfavorable product mix within the quarter.

"Despite the challenging global economic environment and the intensified competitive landscape of 2015, we finished strong with revenue and margins exceeding our expectations," said Cliff Pemble, president and CEO of Garmin Ltd. "We are utilizing our robust balance sheet to further diversify our revenue base in adjacent categories with our recently announced acquisitions. We believe we have strong products across all of our business segments and are well positioned as we enter 2016."

Looking forward to the full fiscal year 2016, Garmin expects to earn approximately $2.25 per share (including a $0.05 negative impact in 2016 due to acquisitions) on revenue of $2.82 billion. Wall Street analysts were already estimating the company will earn $2.30 per share on revenue of $2.78 billion.