Using a vision that started over 30 decades back, engineers Gary Burrell and Dr. Min Kao put their sights on becoming the worldwide leader in GPS technologies for Aviation, Marine, Automotive, Fitness and Outdoor.
The Garmin Vivomove sport smartwatch barely classifies as smart. Rather than focusing on features, it emphasizes the appearance and function of a traditional watch, with smart features sprinkled on top. The hardware of the Vivomove won’t impress those interested in the latest and greatest Android Wear or Apple Watch devices. It doesn’t display much data beyond movement and steps taken.
While golf watches used to be designed to function as golfing accessories and nothing else, Garmin has taken a different tack with its recent golf wearables. Aside from being a golf GPS watch, the Approach X40 is part running watch, part smartwatch and a full time golf watch.
Wearable tech is a hot growth industry -- sales jumped 70% last quarter according to research company IDC. Fitbit (NYSE:FIT) remains the undisputed market leader, although its dominance is shrinking as competition spikes. That shift has contributed to an epic collapse in its stock price.
Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN) was one of the companies that outgrew Fitbit in Q1 with a healthy 28% sales improvement. So, should investors prefer the steadily growing GPS giant's stock over the much cheaper wearables specialist's shares?
