Gadget Stock Watch: GPS Losers, Amazon Winner, Apple Rumors

1. Harman Int'l shares hammered on outlook. Harman (HAR) sank 38% to $43.00 on Monday, its lowest level since 2003, after issuing downward revised EPS guidance (for the year ending 6/30) of $3.00 to $3.10, from $4.14 previously. Harman cited "significant pricing pressure" on in-car GPS devices and said it plans to boost R&D for car "infotainment platforms." Meanwhile, GPS-maker Garmin (GRMN) lost 2% to $69.99, closing below $70 for the first time in seven months.

2. Amazon bests eBay. Web traffic data from Nielson for the month of December shows Amazon (AMZN) topped eBay (EBAY) for the first time ever, by 250,000 clicks. Most alarming is eBay's y/y 10% drop in traffic.

3. The world awaits Steve Jobs' keynote. Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs' annual Macworld keynote speech is only hours away and rumors continue to fly. One item receiving a lot of attention is a fake outline of the keynote "leaked" on Wikipedia. AAPL gained 3.5% to $178.78 on Monday.

4. Toshiba slashes HD DVD prices. In what may be a last-ditch effort, Toshiba (TOSBF.PK) is cutting prices of its HD DVD players by around 50%. An entry level player now costs about $150, while by comparison, Sony-backed (SNE) Blu-ray starts at $400 at Best Buy (BBY). An industry analyst comments: "The HD camp is doubling down. Toshiba has to sell as many as they can ... to populate the world with HD DVD players and maybe win back the studios."

4. Nokia to end production in Germany. Nokia (NOK) could cut as many as 2,300 jobs in Germany as it shifts manufacturing to lower-cost Eastern European countries. "Due to market changes and increasing requirements for cost-effectiveness, production of mobile devices in Germany is no longer feasible. [The plant] cannot be operated in a way that meets requirements for global cost efficiency and for flexible capacity growth," said Nokia's supervisory board chairman. Ordinary shares of Nokia were last up 2% in early afternoon trading in Helsinki.