Garmin Boosts Full-Year Forecast As Wearables Earnings Jump

Garmin shares jumped as much as 9.6% in premarket trading after the GPS-device maker delivered a broad beat on second-quarter earnings and raised its full-year outlook.

Garmin produces GPS-enabled electronics and wearable technology across five main markets:

• Fitness: smartwatches, running watches, cycling computers and activity trackers
• Outdoor: hiking watches, handheld GPS devices, satellite communicators and dog-tracking systems
• Aviation: cockpit displays, navigation systems, avionics and flight instruments
• Marine: chartplotters, sonar, radar, autopilots and fish finders
• Automotive: vehicle navigation systems, cameras and technology supplied to automakers

The company attributed the outperformance to "strong demand for advanced wearables," particularly within its fitness segment:

Revenue from the fitness segment increased 25% in the second quarter with growth across all product categories, led by strong demand for advanced wearables. Gross and operating margins were 64% and 37%, respectively, resulting in $277 million of operating income.

During the quarter, we launched the Forerunner 70 and Forerunner 170, easy-to-use GPS running smartwatches designed to help runners of all levels reach their goals. In addition, we celebrated Global Running Day and Global Cycling Day with the release of our running and cycling data reports, highlighting how athletes around the world are recording runs and rides. More recently, we announced the CIRQA Smart Band, a screenless wearable that offers rich wellness and fitness insights without requiring a subscription and further expands our addressable market for wellness devices.

Hottest watch on the golf course is the Garmin Approach S70 Golf GPS Watch: 

Here's a snapshot of second quarter results:

Pro forma EPS $2.81 vs. $2.17 y/y, estimate $2.28

Revenue $2.02 billion, +11% y/y, estimate $1.92 billion

• Aviation net sales $268.7 million, +7.8% y/y, estimate $265.4 million
• Fitness net sales $756.8 million, +25% y/y, estimate $670.5 million
• Outdoor net sales $482.7 million, -1.6% y/y, estimate $477.6 million
• Marine net sales $341.4 million, +14% y/y, estimate $322.4 million

Operating income $615.5 million, +30% y/y, estimate $486 million

• Fitness operating income $277 million, +40% y/y, estimate $196.8 million
• Outdoor operating income $163.6 million, +3.5% y/y, estimate $142.3 million
• Aviation operating profit $72 million, +14% y/y, estimate $66.7 million
• Marine operating income $100 million, +59% y/y, estimate $66.6 million

Gross margin 62.4% vs. 58.8% y/y, estimate 58.8%

Here's a snapshot of the full-year forecast:

Sees pro forma EPS $10.00, saw $9.35, estimate $9.62 (Bloomberg Consensus)

Sees revenue about $8.05 billion, saw about $7.9 billion, estimate $7.99 billion 

Sees gross margin 59.7%, saw 58.5%, estimate 58.8%

The report offers a positive outlook on consumer hardware demand, with folks increasingly gravitating toward wearables. It also highlights a growing divergence within the technology sector: while the AI selloff pressures memory-chip producers and hyperscalers, consumer-device companies with strong demand and earnings momentum continue to outperform.