Garmin Q1 2023 Earnings Report

Garmin EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.02
• Consensus EPS: $1.00
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.02
• One Year Ago EPS: $1.11

Garmin Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $1.15 billion
• Expected Revenue: $1.09 billion
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$52.83 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: -2.10%

Garmin Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2023
• Date: 5/3/2023
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Wednesday, May 3, 2023
• Conference Call Time: 10:30AM ET

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) is a technology company that develops products and services based on global positioning system (GPS) and other navigation technologies. The company serves consumers, businesses and specialized markets through its fitness, outdoor, aviation, marine and automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) segments.

Its product portfolio includes smartwatches and cycling computers, sports and activity trackers, outdoor navigation devices, satellite communication products, aviation avionics and navigation systems, marine chartplotters and sonar equipment, and in-vehicle navigation and infotainment solutions. Garmin also provides related digital features, mapping, connectivity and software services through its product ecosystem.

Garmin was founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao. The company is incorporated in Switzerland and has major operations in the United States, including its operational headquarters in Olathe, Kansas. Its products are sold and supported internationally through direct channels, retailers, distributors and business partners. Clifton A. Pemble has served as Garmin’s president and chief executive officer since 2013.

Garmin Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Consolidated Q1 revenue was $1.15 B, down 2% YoY; gross margin improved to 56.9%, and full-year guidance of $5 B revenue and $5.15 EPS remains intact.
• Fitness segment revenue grew 11% to $245 M driven by strong demand for wearables like the new Forerunner 965, lifting operating income.
• Outdoor segment revenue declined 27% to $329 M due to tough comparisons from last year’s Fenix 7/Epix launch; new handhelds (GPSMAP 67, Drive 53, Zumo XT2) were introduced and inventory is healthy.
• Aviation revenue increased 22% to $214 M with strong OEM and aftermarket sales; secured new GSE autopilot certifications and key supplier awards as supply chain issues ease.
• Auto OEM revenue rose 11% to $81 M from BMW domain controllers but recorded a $20 M operating loss due to production investments, with volume ramps expected in H2.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good morning. My name is Rob, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Garmin Ltd. First Quarter 2023 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press the star one. Thank you. Teri Seck, Director of Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

[Teri Seck, Director of Investor Relations at Garmin]

Good morning. We would like to welcome you to Garmin Limited first quarter 2023 earnings call. Please note that the earnings, press release, and related slides are available at Garmin's investor relations site on the Internet at www.garmin.com/stock. An archive of the webcast and related transcript will also be available on our website. This earnings call includes projections and other forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Limited and its business. Any statements regarding our future financial position, revenues, segment growth rates, earnings, gross margins, operating margins, future dividends or share purchases, market shares, product introductions, future demand for our products, and plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this earnings call may or may not occur, and actual results could differ materially as a result of risk factors affecting Garmin.

[Teri Seck, Director of Investor Relations at Garmin]

Information concerning these risk factors is contained in our Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, there is significant uncertainty about the duration and impact of COVID-19 pandemic. This means that results could change at any time, and any statement about the impact of COVID-19 on the company's business results and outlook is a best estimate based on the information available as of today's date. Presenting on behalf of Garmin Ltd. this morning are Cliff Pemble, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Doug Boessen, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Cliff Pemble.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Thank you, Teri. Good morning, everyone. As reported earlier today, consolidated first quarter revenue came in at $1.15 billion, which is down 2% from the prior year. Four of our five business segments posted double-digit revenue growth driven by new product introductions and solid demand trends, which mostly offset an expected decline in outdoor. Gross margin improved to 56.9%, driven primarily by lower freight costs. We generated $197 million in operating income, down 14% from the prior year, and operating margin came in at 17.2%. We feel positive about our first quarter results, which are consistent with the expectations we communicated in February. As such, we are maintaining the full year guidance issued in February, calling for revenue of $5 billion and EPS of $5.15.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

It's important to remember that Q1 is typically the lowest seasonal quarter of our financial year, and much of the year lies ahead of us. Our diversified business model offers many different paths to achieve our goals, and we believe we are on track to do just that. Before turning the call over to Doug, I'll provide highlights by segment and a summary of what we see ahead. Starting with fitness, return to growth with revenue increasing 11% to $245 million, driven by strong demand for advanced wearables, especially running watches introduced during the past year. Gross and operating margins were 49% and 4% respectively, resulting in improved year-over-year operating income of $11 million.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

During the quarter, we launched the Forerunner 265 and Forerunner 965, which combine advanced training metrics, recovery insights, and everyday health stats with a vibrant sunlight-readable AMOLED display that does not sacrifice battery life. Moving to outdoor, revenue decreased 27% to $329 million, primarily due to year-over-year declines in the adventure watch category as we pass the one-year anniversary of the highly successful fēnix 7, Epix, and Instinct 2 launch. Gross and operating margins were 62% and 23% respectively, resulting in operating income of $77 million. Our adventure watches are known for their rugged dependability, long battery life, and rich biosensing capabilities that enable their use in demanding applications.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

During the quarter, we announced that the fēnix 7 will be worn on the upcoming Polaris Dawn space flight mission to provide insights into the impact of space travel on the human body. Also during the quarter, we launched new handheld devices with the introduction of the GPSMAP 67 series and eTrex SE. These versatile handhelds offer longer battery life, improved positional accuracy, and global communication via inReach satellite technology. We recently announced the Drive 53 GPS navigator, featuring a high-resolution capacitive touchscreen display, a fresh new design, and built-in traffic options to simplify the drive. We also announced the zūmo XT2, a rugged motorcycle navigator that's built for adventure with a larger and brighter 6-inch sunlight-readable display. We expected the first quarter of the year to be challenging in comparison to the outstanding performance of the prior year.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

We believe these trends will moderate as we introduce new products throughout the remainder of the year. Looking next at the aviation segment, revenue increased 22% to $214 million with contributions from both OEM and aftermarket product categories. Gross and operating margins were strong at 72% and 27% respectively, resulting in operating income of $58 million. During the quarter, we announced additional certifications for our GFC autopilots, which expands our addressable market, bringing the performance and safety-enhancing benefits of our flight control technology to more aircraft models. We also recently attended the Embraer Suppliers Conference, where we were named Best Supplier in the categories of systems as well as services and support for our G3000 flight deck in the Phenom 100EV and 300E aircraft. We were named the Best of the Best Supplier to the entire Embraer organization.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

We also received an Operational Excellence Award from Airbus Helicopters. These prestigious awards are an affirmation of our reliable performance during the supply chain crisis and reflect our strong commitment to providing the best products and outstanding service to our customers. I'm very proud of what our aviation team has accomplished and believe there is much more we can achieve in this market. We are pleased with how our aviation segment has performed so far this year. The supply chain disruptions of the prior year appear to be mostly behind us, while demand for new aircraft and retrofit systems remains resilient. The Marine segment delivered another quarter of impressive results, with revenue increasing 10% to $279 million, primarily due to the timing of spring promotions. Gross and operating margins were 54% and 26% respectively, resulting in operating income of $72 million.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

During the quarter, we expanded our strong lineup of chart plotters with the introduction of the ECHOMAP UHD2 series, which are preloaded with premium Garmin Navionics+ cartography and offer wireless data sharing of live sonar and navigation information with other chart plotters on the boat. For the fifth consecutive year, we were recognized as the leader in navigation and sonar categories by Best Marine Electronics and Technology, and received a 2023 Top Product Award from Boating Industry Magazine. Moving finally to the Auto OEM segment, revenue increased 11% to $81 million, primarily driven by increased shipments of domain controllers to BMW. Gross margin was 28%. We recorded an operating loss of $20 million, driven by ongoing investments as new programs move into production.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

During the quarter, we began deliveries of domain controllers for the 2024 BMW X5 and X6 from our Olathe, Kansas facility, which represents an important milestone in expanding our manufacturing capability to serve world-class automakers. We also expanded our footprint in the two-wheel market with the launch of an entertainment system for additional models of Yamaha sport touring motorcycles. That concludes my remarks. Next, Doug will walk you through additional details on our financial results. Doug?

[Doug Boessen, CFO and Treasurer at Garmin]

Thanks, Cliff. Good morning, everyone. I begin by reviewing our first quarter financial results, provide comments on the balance sheet, cash flow statement, and taxes. We post a revenue of $1,147 million for the first quarter, representing a 2% decrease year-over-year. Gross margin was 56.9%, a 40 basis points increase from the prior quarter. Increase was primarily due to lower freight costs. Operating expense as a percentage of sales was 39.7%, a 270 basis point increase. Operating income was $197 million, a 14% decrease. Operating margin was 17.2%, 230 basis points decrease. Our GAAP EPS was $1.05, and pro forma EPS was $1.02.

[Doug Boessen, CFO and Treasurer at Garmin]

Look at our first quarter revenue by segment and geography. In the first quarter, we achieved double-digit growth in four of five segments, led by the aviation segment with strong growth of 22%, followed by the fitness and auto OEM segments with 11% growth, and the marine segment with 10% growth. The outdoor segment declined 27%, primarily due to lower revenue from adventure watches as they compare against the strong first quarter 2022 launches. By geography, 7% growth in Americas was more than offset by a 12% decline in APAC and a 10% decline in EMEA, both were negatively impacted by foreign exchange rates during the quarter. Looking next at operating expenses. First quarter operating expense increased by $22 million, or 5%. Research and development increased approximately $12 million year-over-year, primarily due to engineering personnel costs.

[Doug Boessen, CFO and Treasurer at Garmin]

SG&A increased approximately $13 million compared to prior quarter, primarily due to increases in personnel-related expenses and information technology costs. Brand advertising expense decreased approximately $4 million, primarily due to lower co-op advertising.

[Doug Boessen, CFO and Treasurer at Garmin]

Few highlights from the balance sheet, cash flow statement, and taxes. We ended the quarter with cash and marketable securities approximately $2.7 billion. Accounts receivable increased year-over-year, but decreased sequentially to $611 million, following the seasonally strong fourth quarter. Inventory increased year-over-year, but decreased sequentially to approximately $1.5 billion as we continue to work to optimize inventory levels. We anticipate 2023 ending inventory balance be relatively flat year-over-year, with expected declines in our consumer inventory are offset by expected increases associated with growth in our auto OEM business. For the first quarter 2023, we generated free cash flow of $232 million, a $406 million increase from the prior quarter, primarily due to lower use of cash in purchases of inventory.

[Doug Boessen, CFO and Treasurer at Garmin]

Our capital expenditures for the first quarter 2023 were $47 million, approximately $13 million lower than the prior quarter. For the first quarter 2023, we paid dividends of approximately $140 million. Also, we purchased $41 million of company stock and have approximately $53 million remaining at quarter end in the share purchase program, which is authorized through December 2023. We put an effective tax rate of 8.8% compared to 10.3% in the prior quarter. The decrease in the effective tax rate was primarily due to favorable income mix by tax jurisdiction. Rob, could you please open the line for Q&A?

[Operator]

At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, press star then number one on your telephone keypad. Your first question comes from the line of George Wang from Barclays. Your line is open.

[George Wang, VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Barclays]

Hey. Hey, guys. Just maybe you can unpack if there's any change to the segment guidance for this year. In the last quarter, you guys talked about the kind of guidance revenue by segment. For example, still expecting growth for outdoor, kind of an MSP growth for the industrial. Just curious if there's any update on that.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Yeah. As we mentioned, George, we're not changing our guidance. We're reaffirming what we said in February. The first quarter, as we mentioned, is the lowest seasonal quarter of our year, so there's a lot of the year left in front of us. It's our practice to reevaluate more closer to the Q2 timeframe.

[George Wang, VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Barclays]

Okay, thanks. Also, just quick follow-up on Outdoor, you know, weaker than expected. Can you unpack kind of, you know, any sort of cyclical versus structural from the weakness in the one, two, or it's just a function of a compare from a year ago? You know, can you any commentary on the channel inventory kind of across wearables and Outdoor? Thanks.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Yeah. I think it was very difficult to predict what the outdoor performance would be because our Q1 2022 was so amazingly strong with the incredible launch of the fēnix 7, the Epix, and the Instinct. It was a little hard to predict, but we feel like the general trend was in line with what we expected. I think it's important to note that from a cyclical point of view, we're always introducing new products, and so we expect as the year goes on, our performance will moderate and improve as those new products come out. In general, I would say from the market standpoint and also the channel inventory, we don't see anything out there that's concerning.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

We have fantastic products that people want, and the inventory and the channel appears to be at the correct levels.

[George Wang, VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Barclays]

Okay, thanks.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Ben Bollin from Cleveland Research. Your line is open.

[Ben Bollin, Analyst at Cleveland Research]

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the question. Cliff, the first question for you, could you share any thoughts you have about the auto OEM opportunity with BMW, how you expect that to ramp through the course of the year? Any thoughts you have on the gross margin and operating margin profile of the business as it gets larger. I have a follow-up.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Okay. Yeah, I think, last quarter, Ben, we kind of outlined that we expect a significant ramp over the next two to three years through the awarded business that we have from BMW and others. Throughout this year, we of course expect that the ramp will accelerate into the back half as the new models are introduced and we begin deliveries from three different factory locations around the world to BMW's expanding model line that carries our products. In terms of the gross margin, operating margin profile, we've mentioned before this is more typical auto OEM structured business.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

We would expect gross margins from the segment to gravitate towards the high double digits, high teens, rather, you know, 19%-20% gross margin, and then operating margin would be more in line with the mid- to high single digits.

[Ben Bollin, Analyst at Cleveland Research]

Okay. The other question, you touched on inventory and outdoor. Could you share any thoughts you have about channel inventory levels in some of the categories that have been maybe more lean, marine, aviation? Where do you think inventory levels are there? Any thoughts on where that goes?

[Ben Bollin, Analyst at Cleveland Research]

A second question around this maybe a little bit. Have you seen any observations that you could share around smaller go-to-market partners and, you know, how they're managing financing, either for working capital or their own operations? That's it for me. Thanks.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

I think what we're seeing in marine and aviation is as the supply chain issues have abated, definitely inventories in the channel are getting better. We did struggle some in marine last year, quite a bit in aviation, where we were able to kind of manage the situation to make sure that we kept all of our partners going. Things are certainly much better and we see that inventories and the reflection of the past due orders are coming down to more healthy levels. In terms of those smaller partners, we really don't see any concern on in terms of them and their financial situations or their working capital.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

There's always exceptions, but in general, it seems like the partners we work with have healthy businesses.

[Ben Bollin, Analyst at Cleveland Research]

Thanks, Cliff.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of David MacGregor from Longbow Research. Your line is open.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Yes. Good morning, everyone. Maybe just to pick up on that auto OEM for starters. When we spoke last quarter, you expected a flat first quarter and then a significant inflection upwards in the second quarter. First quarter up 11%. A good number there. Are you seeing incremental business? Has there been a revision in the production schedule? Is there something that would drive that better than expected result, or was this, excuse me. Was this primarily timing and pull forward?

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Yeah, David, I would probably say right now it's mostly timing as car makers ramp up their new model years. We'll see some variation from quarter to quarter as they adjust their plans. They are navigating a very complex supply chain, so sometimes things vary up and down, but we try to be flexible and roll with what they need from us.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Okay. If I could just ask about the marine business. We talked about that briefly a moment ago. I guess I'm just interested in what you're seeing in terms of order patterns early in the season. You mentioned that inventory seemed to be in good balance. I'm just wondering about retail sell-through and anything you're seeing there, just replenishment orders that may be coming in, give you some perspective on what to expect in the next couple of quarters.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Yeah, I think the promotions and retail activity that we've had so far in 2023 have been very successful. It shows that there's a lot of enthusiasm on the part of customers to obtain the latest technology, and people are certainly excited by the promotions and the ability to obtain the products they want at lower prices. We feel like that's going very well. In terms of other indicators in the market, I think there's some areas of the OEM market that are starting to slow down a bit in terms of where they were at a very torrid pace that typically tends to be in the lower-end boat ranges.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Inventories are starting to be more healthy, so people can actually buy some of those off of a lot now. The mid to upper range of the market, where a lot of the boats are built to order, there's still many back orders, as we understand it from our partners, and they're still taking orders for those products. We feel like there's still a lot of demand out there for especially the higher end products.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Okay, that's good color. Thank you for that. Very strong new product introduction calendar here, so congratulations on the progress there. How would you characterize the willingness of retailers to support all that new product introduction with inventory? Do they seem a little more reticent at this point, or... I noticed you're seeing a pullback in cooperative advertising. I guess I'm just looking to kind of reconcile a couple of these points.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

I think the pullback in co-op advertising was not a change in strategy by anyone. It was really just a matter of the sales volume that was being pushed last year in our outdoor segment. It's squarely, you know, associated with the dynamics of that product launch from last year. There's no change in the commitment of retailers in terms of carrying these products and getting on board with the exciting launches that we have coming up.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Okay. Last question from me is just on your direct-to-consumer business growth and what you're seeing there.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

We're still seeing strong results from our direct to consumer. We're seeing growth in both online sales as well as subscriptions and services across the business. We're very excited about that, and we continue to look for ways to differentiate in that area.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Congratulations. Thanks.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Thanks, David.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from a line of Paul Chung from J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.

[Paul Chung, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Just on aviation, very strong performance to kind of start the year. I know there were some pushouts into Q2 from Q1 of last year that helped the quarter year-over-year, but is this the right kind of quarterly run rate of revenues to kind of think about through the year? Can you expand on both industry trends, which look quite positive for business jets, how pricing has evolved versus volume and kind of expanding wallet share per plane? I'll follow up.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

I think in terms of our performance in Q1, as compared to the last year, last year was somewhat uneven by quarter because of supply chain challenges that we had. We would expect that to smooth out more this year. You know, we've offered our guidance on aviation, and we were able to certainly do well in first quarter. I would remind everyone that the second quarter of last year was also up and down compared to the first quarter because of the supply chain issues. We see that evening out and right now we feel very comfortable with our guidance, and we'll update people after the end of Q2.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

In terms of the overall market, what we're hearing from our partners, is that, again, orders are very strong, tend to be at least even book-to-bill, sometimes even greater book to bill. There's a strong backlog out there and still a lot of people looking to obtain either new or, you know, recent model business jets, turboprops, and even piston aircraft are in popular demand. We continue to see good trends in that area.

[Paul Chung, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Okay, great. Then on fitness, you know, on the Forerunner 965, what's been the customer feedback there? I know there's been some, you know, some extended wait periods for shipments, I assume, you know, demand is holding up pretty well or is there something else going on? Are you seeing, you know, new customers start to sync there or upgrades from, you know, existing users given the kind of attractive AMOLED screen? Did you recognize any benefits for the product in product releases in Q1? On the operating margin side, you know, there's a big dip here similar to last year. What is driving that? I know it's seasonally weaker, typically has been in that mid-teens to 20% in the past.

[Paul Chung, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Will this kind of be a recurring one to margin hit in fitness kind of moving forward? Thank you.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Yeah. I think, Paul, with regard to the 965 and 265 launches, what we've seen is that the 965 has been surprisingly popular at the top end of the range, so we see customers gravitating there. The demand has been a little bit stronger than what we had predicted, which means that we're scrambling to catch up on some orders and things. We're very delighted with that and seems to me that coming into Q1, that the running market has been reinvigorated, and we're excited to see that and we have some great products to offer there. In terms of user mix, I mean, specifically on those kinds of products, we tend to see kind of a balance of new users versus existing users.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Across our wearables the situation just varies depending on whether it's more of a consumer product, such as our Venu series or more of the specialty products like Forerunner and fēnix. In terms of Q1 benefit, we did see some benefit there on these new products. Certainly as we move into Q2, it should be stronger since we have a full quarter of those products available. In terms of the profitability, the operating profit specifically in fitness, it is under pressure for a few reasons. Year-over-year, we are carrying still some excess capacity on the tax side of things, which is impacting our results as we work through the normalization of that market.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

We did have some obsolescence that we took, in the segment associated with some raw materials in the tax area, which impacted our results. Our targets for the segment are more of the mid-teens operating profit.

[Paul Chung, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan]

Very helpful. Thank you so much.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Ivan Feinseth from Tigress Financial Partners. Your line is open.

[Ivan Feinseth, CIO at Tigress Financial Partners]

Hi, thank you for taking my questions, and congratulations on the great cadence of new product launches and the launch of the fēnix into space.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Thanks, Ivan.

[Ivan Feinseth, CIO at Tigress Financial Partners]

On automotive OEM, where could we start to see some of the functionality that is contributed by Garmin into various vehicles?

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

As we mentioned, we started shipments for 2024 models of the X5 and the X6. I guess maybe in the States, you might have to wait to see some of those vehicles. We're delivering in Europe, to additional models there and also in China.

[Ivan Feinseth, CIO at Tigress Financial Partners]

Okay. In a lot of the products you're launching, they're more and more coming with like a subscription component. Like the PlaneSync has a subscription component. Where do you see going with that? As far as like the your robust Connect app that has a lot of functionality to your outdoor and watch products, do you envision at some point creating two tiers, like a paid level above the free level?

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

I think, Ivan, we are strategically focused on creating some recurring revenue across our product lines where we can offer additional value to our customers for content or services that go along with our products. PlaneSync and the GDL 60 is one example of that. In terms of Connect, as, you know, everyone knows, that's a long-standing app and relationship we have with millions of customers that use that every day. As we go forward, we're certainly examining ways that we can provide additional value to those customers as well as revenue opportunities for Garmin.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

We're very careful about how we do that because we wanna make sure that we don't take anything away from our users, and we only provide additional value that they would be delighted with. We're looking at that, but it will take some time, I think, before we arrive at the final answer.

[Ivan Feinseth, CIO at Tigress Financial Partners]

Then one last question on the Connect IQ app platform. What are your thoughts on creating a standardized payment process? 'Cause, you know, there are a lot of great apps that are for free, but there are a lot of good apps that have a fee, but the fee is usually, you know, direct to the provider rather than, let's say, a standardized process of just paying Garmin and, let's say, then you pay the provider.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Yeah. Yeah, I think, Connect IQ certainly has a lot more opportunity to build on what is there with monetization and payment capability. We do have mobile payments on our devices, and we certainly are looking at ways that we can extend that into a broader payment platform...

[Ivan Feinseth, CIO at Tigress Financial Partners]

Mm-hmm.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

On our wearables. We do have some work to do in order to put all the pieces together there.

[Ivan Feinseth, CIO at Tigress Financial Partners]

All right. Thank you, and congratulations on a great start to the year.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Thanks, Ivan.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Erik Woodring from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

[Erik Woodring, Head of US IT Hardware at Morgan Stanley]

Hey. Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Realizing you're not updating guidance, you got into the year down 5%. You started the year up 10%, the comps are pretty easy throughout the year. I guess I just wanna make sure. Are there any kind of, like, speed bumps that we should think of for the rest of the year that would suggest performance is really going to deteriorate through the year? Is this just, you know, kind of like you said at the top of the call, Cliff, a bit of a wait and see approach?

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Yeah, Erik, I would say that, going into 2023, it was very difficult to predict what would be the ongoing effect, especially of the indoor trainer market, which was one of the biggest impacts that we had in fitness last year. It's going to take some time, obviously, as we move into 2023 to see what the demand trends are. We're really pleased with what's happened so far, definitely ahead of our expectations. We certainly don't anticipate that things will go down from here. We need to see more of the year come in before we can decide what we think the 2023 outcome will be.

[Erik Woodring, Head of US IT Hardware at Morgan Stanley]

Okay, super helpful. Then, you know, similar to one of the earlier questions on fitness, but this time on outdoor. Obviously, tough comparison the first quarter, but, we saw some pretty significant operating margin deleverage there. I believe operating margins were down, to an all-time outdoor low. Can you help us understand what some of those significant margin headwinds are? What is kind of temporary versus permanent? If a return to kind of like that 30% range is how we should think about normalized operating margins, or if that's changed, then why?

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Yeah. I think a few thoughts there. Certainly with the major change in the product mix within the segment compared to last year, that impacted our leverage and of course, the sales coming down as well. That's one factor. I mean, this is a very happy problem because the segment is very strong, you know, in the upper 20% kind of operating margin. We would see that improve as we have more new products that get introduced later in the year.

[Erik Woodring, Head of US IT Hardware at Morgan Stanley]

Perfect. I guess the last question, just on the auto OEM business. Appreciate all the color that you've provided for us there. One thing I wanted to try to square away was, you know, gross margins falling from where they are today to, call it, the high teens, but operating margins increasing from where they are today to things that implies like a ton of operating leverage in the business. Maybe help us gain comfort in why you can see OpEx, you know, almost cut more than in half over a span of 12 months, why there's such significant leverage in the business in such a short period of time? That's it for me. Thank you so much.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Well, I think it really relates to the scale as the volumes increase. We're looking for the revenues and the gross profits to contribute to offset the expenses that are there. That's our plan based on the committed business that we have.

[Erik Woodring, Head of US IT Hardware at Morgan Stanley]

Super. Thanks so much for the color, guys.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

All right. Thank you.

[Operator]

Again, if you would like to ask a question, it's star one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Noah Zatzkin from KeyBanc. Your line is open.

[Noah Zatzkin, VP and Equity Research Analyst at KeyBanc]

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. You know, I think this has kind of maybe been touched on a bit. You know, in terms of outdoor declining 27% in the first quarter, understand seasonality is a component of that. As we think about the new products launched during the quarter, like, how are you thinking about those new products and kind of the cadence of just new launches moving through the year, and the kind of ability to lap the anniversarying of the fēnix 7? Thanks.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Noah. I think we'll have a very strong first half of the year with new product introductions. Then we'll be in a good position in the back half to be able to work with promotions and holiday seasons with these products.

[Noah Zatzkin, VP and Equity Research Analyst at KeyBanc]

Thank you. Just in general, in terms of the cadence of the different segments in the second quarter, just any color there as we start to model out? Thank you.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

I think we'll be heavily weighted in the front half of the year in terms of introductions in outdoor.

[Noah Zatzkin, VP and Equity Research Analyst at KeyBanc]

Got it. Fitness as well?

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

There is probably more, I would say balanced, kind of product introduction, calendar for fitness across the year. We had some, obviously in Q1, and we'll have some, throughout the remainder of the year. Some really exciting products, I think.

[Noah Zatzkin, VP and Equity Research Analyst at KeyBanc]

Thank you.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Thank you.

[Operator]

We have a follow-up question from the line of David MacGregor from Longbow Research. Your line is open.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Hi. Thanks for taking the follow-up. I just wanted to come back to the comments about lower freight costs and you attributed the 40 basis points of gross margin improvement to freight. That's, you know, roughly $4 million-$5 million by my math, if I've got that correct. Is that how we should think about the benefit in Q2 and going forward until the anniversary's out? Or does that savings actually become a more significant number in Q2 and going forward?

[Doug Boessen, CFO and Treasurer at Garmin]

Yeah. As it relates to the freight costs being lower, there's really two things that are driving that. First of which is, we're optimizing some of our shipping methods where we're actually shipping a larger percentage of our products ocean versus air. Secondly is year-over-year, there's just a lower freight rates. Now as it relates to the freight expense as a percent of sales, we expect that to, you know, kind of continue, you know, the rest of the year. Now we have to think about is the comparability, you know, of the different quarters as we did see, you know, some of those freight rates improve during the year when you think about on a year-over-year basis.

[Doug Boessen, CFO and Treasurer at Garmin]

Freight rates are a thing that, you know, over the first quarter, we did see, a kind of a benefit on.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Okay. Just a follow-up, I guess. Talk about Europe and Asia Pac and just what you're seeing there in terms of consumer behavior, consumer order patterns. Any color you can provide there would be helpful. Thank you very much.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

I think Europe, we've said before, has tended to be a little more impacted by some of the geopolitical and macroeconomic issues that have been going on. That said, if you even look at it on a constant currency basis, it's not bad and I think certainly Europe is more impacted by the year-over-year dynamics of the fēnix, Epix launch from last year than other areas. I think Asia is generally as we expect. I think currency impacts are a factor there and of course also the year-over-year product introduction cycles.

[David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research]

Okay. Thank you very much.

[Cliff Pemble, President and CEO at Garmin]

Thank you.

[Operator]

There are no further questions at this time. Ms. Teri Seck, I turn the call back over to you for some final closing remarks.

[Teri Seck, Director of Investor Relations at Garmin]

Thanks everyone for joining us today. As typical, Doug and I are available for callbacks throughout the day. Have a great one. Bye.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Cliff Pemble, President and CEO
• Doug Boessen, CFO and Treasurer
• Teri Seck, Director of Investor Relations

Analysts

• Ben Bollin, Analyst at Cleveland Research
• David MacGregor, President at Longbow Research
• Erik Woodring, Head of US IT Hardware at Morgan Stanley
• George Wang, VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Barclays
• Ivan Feinseth, CIO at Tigress Financial Partners
• Noah Zatzkin, VP and Equity Research Analyst at KeyBanc
• Paul Chung, Equity Research Analyst at JPMorgan