Hello elegua-ga,
It turns out that most of the companies that have a concentrated
business in car navigation systems are private, or are subsidiaries of
much larger companies (for instance, OnStar is a susidiary of General
Motors). However, there are a few publicly-traded (or about to be
traded!) companies that you should be aware of.
The "hottest" company at the moment appears to be the ATX Group, which
just announced a pending IPO in March 2004, and will trade under the
symbol ATXG once their shares become available. It is considered the
"largest independent provider of telematics services" to the
automobile industry.
You can read a bit about its IPO here:
http://www.ipohome.com/common/ipoprofile.asp?ticker=ATXG
and can view its corporate filings with the SEC here:
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=ATX%20Group&action=getcompany
and can visit the company's website here:
http://www.atxg.com/
In particular, note the description of their navigation services,
which are different from the more common on-board systems, in that
they rely on an off-board server for navigational data:
http://www.atxg.com/vrm/services_summary.asp
Off-Board Navigation.
"This service enhances the OEM's ability to deliver route
assistance/navigation to the vehicle by utilizing an off-board server
(instead of the on-board computing power of the navigation system) to
calculate routes and provide up-to-date information on various
destinations. This service overcomes the OEM's challenges of keeping
mapping data current and providing a cost-effective navigation
system..."
=====
A Hoover's factsheet on the company can be found here:
http://www.hoovers.com/atx-group,-inc./--ID__105642--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
You may want to consider setting up an automated GoogleNews alert to
notify you of new news stories regarding the ATX Group (or any other
company you're interest in tracking). The Alert service is easy and
free. You cna find it here:
://www.google.com/newsalerts
Just enter your search terms in the search box. I would suggest a search on:
"ATX Group" OR ATXG
and enter your email address. You'll be notified as new news items
appear on this company.
==========
Hoover's makes mention of another company, CSI Wirleless, that trades
on the Toronto exchange with the symbol CSY:
http://www.hoovers.com/csi-wireless/--ID__107013--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
They're a GPS company, but a bit broader in scope that just consumer
automobiles, as they build tracking systems for heavy machinery, fleet
management, stolen vehicle recovery, etc. The company website
describing this aspect of their business can be seen here:
http://www.csi-wireless.com/products/asset_management.shtml
==========
At Road, Inc. (also known as @Road) trades under the symbol ARDI, and
is another player in the automotive navigation business. A
description of the company, including basic investor information, can
be seen here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=ARDI
"At Road, Inc. integrates global positioning system (GPS) technology,
wireless communications, transaction processing, software applications
and the Internet to enable companies to efficiently manage their
mobile workers with location-relevant and time-sensitive information.
The Company's services are designed to be Internet-based tools for
mobile resource management that provide location, reporting, dispatch,
messaging and other management services. At Road's services allow
customers to use its Website to manage the activities of their
employees, vehicles and goods and services, and provide for two-way
communications between its customers and their mobile workers..."
The company's website is here:
http://www.atroad.com/main.html
==========
A company with a real sub-specialty is Integral Technologies, which
produces antennas for GPS navagational systems. They trade over the
counter under the symbol ITKG.OB. A company overview can be seen
here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=ITKG.OB
"The Company's technology will be marketed to manufacturers of such
wireless devices as cellular phones, portable phones, paging
communicators, satellite communications, global positioning systems
(GPS) and wireless based networks. Its GPS/LEO antenna is for use in
mobile asset tracking and fleet management, utilizing GPS satellite
tracking and low earth orbit (LEO) satellite data communications to
trucking fleets, heavy equipment, marine vessels, railway cars,
shipping containers, transit vehicles,.."
Their website is currently "under construction" but the link (when it
is operational) is here:
http://www.itkg.net/
==========
Drake222-ga mentioned Garmin Ltd. in a comment, below. A fuller
description of Garmin is here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=GRMN
From their description, they are heavily involved in GPS technologies,
but seem more oriented to the consumer segment (portable GPS units) as
well as panel-mounted units in aviation. They seem a natural
candidate for possible expansion to the automotive navigation market
sometime in the future.
==========
I hope this information fully meets your needs. But before rating
this answer, please let me know if there is any additional assistance
I can provide.
Best of luck in your investing.
pafalafa-ga
search strategy: searched the Yahoo Finance site at:
http://finance.yahoo.com/search
for a variety of terms and combinations of terms including:
[ car gps navigation automotive ] |
