Investors Get the Yips on Location Technology Companies

NAVTEQ (NVT) and Garmin (GRMN) were hammered today by jittery investors when NAVTEQ failed to show income growth for the quarter. I link the two because intrinsically, they are. NAVTEQ supplies the data; Garmin sells to the end user. NAVTEQ missed income numbers because CEO Judson Green said the automotive market was down. And if car sales are down, then Garmin gets punched because of the aftermarket units they sell for in vehicle navigation. NAVTEQ’s stock plummeted 21% while Garmin got tagged for a roughly 6% decline. Garmin stockholders just a approved a 2 for 1 stock split for holders as of August 2.

But there was good news for this sector as Trimble (TRMB) reported a 20% rise in revenue. Trimble’s president Steve Berglund cited success in the construction and mobile workforce markets. I may be biased but my money is on this sector for the long term (in full disclosure I hold stock in two of these companies). This is a temporary dip and there’s no denying the long term potential for location-enabled applications by all of these companies.