Garmin’s CEO Made His Company an Electronics Leader. Its Stock Has Outrun Apple’s.
Garmin has spent two decades in the middle of a disruptive storm. The company’s pioneering satellite navigation devices were undone by mobile phones. Then its consumer fitness devices were matched by smartwatches.
While other companies have folded under less pressure, Olathe, Kan.–based Garmin has thrived. For the past 12 years, it has been led by CEO Clifton Pemble, who joined Garmin in 1989 as a software engineer.
Pemble, 59, has turned Garmin into the rare electronics powerhouse not named Apple. While the iPhone and Apple Watch attract a broad audience, Garmin has embraced niche segments with devoted customers. Its devices—with navigation still at their core—dominate boating, aviation, fitness, cycling, and other outdoor recreation.
Garmin sales grew 20% last year to $6.3 billion. The company’s latest device is a smartwatch with a 2-inch display and eight days of battery life, besting Apple Watch’s battery by days.
Pemble doesn’t get the attention of Apple boss Tim Cook, but perhaps he should. Over the past three years, Garmin stock is up 112%, for a total annualized return of 31%, outpacing the market and Apple’s own 15% yearly gain.