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AeroVironment signed a long-term agreement with Attalon to secure a steady supply of laser platforms for its Locust weapon systems. These systems use high-energy lasers to shoot down incoming drones, a technology that is seeing higher demand as militaries look for cheaper ways to defend against robotic attacks.
Securing this supply chain is a practical step toward meeting the company's growing backlog of orders. By locking in these parts now, AeroVironment is better positioned to turn its recent contract wins into finished products and actual revenue without being slowed down by part shortages.
Source: Business Wire
Jefferies lowered its price target for AeroVironment to $204 from $229 on Wednesday. This move follows the company's recent quarterly results and brings the firm's target closer to the average analyst estimate of $214. While the target is lower than before, it remains well above the current stock price of about $157. This type of adjustment is common after earnings as analysts update their models to match the company's latest spending plans and sales numbers.
Source: Jefferies
AeroVironment is partnering with Nominal, a data infrastructure firm, to help manage the testing and production data for its drones and missiles. This partnership is aimed at speeding up how quickly the company can move new hardware from the design phase to the factory floor. As AeroVironment grows from a niche drone maker into a larger defense contractor, its biggest challenge is manufacturing at scale. Using better data tools to catch issues during testing should help it deliver on its record 1.1 billion dollar backlog of orders more efficiently.
Source: GlobeNewsWire
AeroVironment started its fiscal year with record sales, bringing in about 480 million dollars in the first quarter. While analysts had expected a higher revenue number, the company earned 59 cents per share, which was more than double what Wall Street predicted. The stock fell about 4 percent today, likely because the revenue figure did not meet the high expectations set by recent growth.
The most important detail for the long term is the funded backlog, which is the total value of signed contracts the company has been paid to start. That backlog grew 37 percent to a record 1.5 billion dollars. This suggests that while quarterly sales can be lumpy based on when drones are shipped, the demand for robotic weapons and defense systems is still accelerating. The company is now focused on expanding its factories to turn those signed orders into finished products faster.
See the full quarter, and how our tracked metrics did
Source: 8-K filing
AeroVironment is scheduled to release its latest quarterly numbers after the market closes today. Analysts are looking for earnings of about 22 cents per share on roughly 450 million dollars in revenue. The most important thing to watch is the company's backlog, which is the total value of signed contracts waiting to be filled. After its recent multi-billion dollar purchase of BlueHalo, the focus is on how quickly the company can turn those orders into finished products and actual cash.
Management has a history of setting conservative targets and then clearing them easily, which suggests their forecasts are a floor rather than a ceiling.
| Expectation | |
|---|---|
| EPS | $0.39 |
| Revenue | $512M |
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