Garmin Misses Expectations, Delays Nuviphone

The basics, from Bloomberg:

Profit, excluding a gain from a sale of Tele Atlas NV shares, was 94 cents a share, compared with the $1.01 average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Sales rose 23 percent to $911.7 million, Garmin said in a statement today, falling short of the $959.1 million analysts had projected.

Sales expectations were cut in half to 23% based on consumers holding back. Further, with so many PNDs already in the market, competition from TomTom, prices have dropped to encourage those without a device to buy.

Shares fell $5.91, or 13 percent, to $39.15 this morning, the largest drop in five years.

The Nuvifone will be delayed for at least 6 months until the first half of 2009; it was originally to be out this fall and account for 10% of sales. There’s also speculation the proposed sale price of the Nuvifone, about $300, will drop to match the new iPhone.