Garmin: Strong Data Points Should Allieviate Investor Concerns

Morgan Stanley is somewhat positive on Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN) after NPD data indicated that Garmin increased its US market share from 29% in November to 42% in December while holding blended pricing flat m/m.

According to MSCO, NPD data should help to alleviate some near-term investor concerns about Garmin’s US market share and the PND pricing environment. December US NPD data on personal navigation device retail sales should be a modest positive for Garmin as the company regained market share following November losses, although spot shortages at TomTom in December likely accounted for a significant portion of the recovery. Strong market growth and December share recovery suggest potential upside to our PND unit forecast of 98% sequential growth for Garmin in C4Q07.

Firm remains Equal-weight-V GRMN but considers the stock oversold near-term at current levels. Believes that their long-term gross margin concerns are largely priced in the stock.

Notablecalls: Not making any calls here. Just letting you know it's out there.