AeroVironment stock has surged 21% following the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report, which exceeded expectations on both revenue and profit.
The company exceeded expectations, reporting earnings of $1.84 per share while revenue also surpassed estimates, more than doubling to $642 million compared to an analyst estimate of $559 million.
AeroVironment’s funded backlog of $1.2 billion increased by 65% compared to last year, but was only slightly higher than the $1.1 billion backlog reported in the prior period.
The dronemaker expects fiscal year 2027 revenue to be between $2.13 billion and $2.23 billion.
CEO Wahid Nawabi told investors in a release, “Fiscal 2026 marked a transformational year for AV, which included the completion of our largest acquisition, meaningful investments toward diversifying our portfolio in critical areas aligned to our customer’s highest priorities, and the strongest financial performance in our history. We are confident our proven ability to deliver at speed will continue to drive opportunities for AV across our global customer base.
“We remain focused on executing with excellence and strengthening our supply chain to accelerate the commercialization of our platforms. AV is well-positioned to capture the rising global demand across lethal and non-lethal drones, counter-UAS, space and advanced technologies and deliver long-term shareholder value.”
The rise occurs as the company’s shares have fallen more than 40% this year, but with the U.S. Defense Department drone budget potentially exceeding $75 billion next year, Nawabi said a significant opportunity lies ahead.
“Not only the U.S. Department of War, but all of our allies are behind the eight ball in terms of adoption and deployment,” Nawabi said in a recent interview. “Now we’re playing catch-up. Our military is playing catch-up in a very fast pace.”
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
