GGRMNGarmin Ltd. Common Stock (Switzerland)

Garmin makes navigation devices and sports watches — gadgets bought instead of a smartphone rather than alongside one.

There are five segments: sports and outdoor watches, automotive navigation, aviation, marine electronics and outdoor instruments. That spread protects against a downturn in any one, while aviation and marine carry high certification barriers and better margins than the rest.

Competition from smartphones and general-purpose smartwatches is a constant backdrop, but buyers choose Garmin for endurance and specialisation: a week of battery life and functions a general device lacks. It is a niche rather than a mass market, and the company occupies it deliberately.

A financial peculiarity is almost no debt and a large cash position, rare for a consumer electronics maker. The company pays a steady dividend. Risks: consumer spending, currency rates and the device replacement cycle.