AeroVironment Soars 30% After Crushing Q4 Earnings and Guiding Higher

Drone maker AeroVironment (AVAV) blew past Wall Street’s expectations Tuesday, and investors rewarded the beat instantly — the stock spiked roughly 30% in premarket trading. Strong demand for autonomous systems powered record results and an upbeat outlook, cementing the company’s position as a rising force in defense technology.

A Blowout Quarter

For the quarter ended April, AeroVironment earned an adjusted $1.84 per share, up from $1.61 a year earlier and comfortably ahead of the $1.46 that analysts polled by FactSet had expected. Revenue told an even more dramatic story: it soared 133% to $641.6 million, easily topping the Street’s $556 million forecast.

CEO Wahid Nawabi didn’t downplay the moment. “I’m pleased to report record fourth quarter results across several key financial performance metrics,” he told analysts, adding that the company’s work over the past year has built “a stronger, more resilient and diversified company.”

Autonomous Systems Lead the Charge

Digging into the segments, autonomous systems drove the bulk of the gains. That division generated $492.4 million in revenue, nearly doubling from $275.1 million a year earlier as global demand for drones and autonomous platforms accelerated.

The space, cyber and directed energy unit, however, moved in the opposite direction. Revenue there slipped to $149.2 million — down about 8% on a pro forma basis — after a contract termination in March and ongoing US government funding delays weighed on the business.

Guidance Points Higher, With One Caveat

Looking ahead, AeroVironment guided fiscal 2027 revenue to a range of $2.13 billion to $2.23 billion. Notably, the $2.18 billion midpoint edges past the $2.17 billion analysts expected, signaling continued momentum after revenue surged 141% to $1.98 billion in the prior year.

That said, management struck a measured tone on profitability. The company pegged adjusted EPS at $3.02 to $3.34 for the year — below the Street’s $3.52 estimate — and deliberately built caution into its assumptions. As Nawabi explained, “our revenue guidance reflects that we’re not assuming funding arrives early in the government fiscal year 2027.”

Building for Rising Demand

Beyond the numbers, Nawabi laid out an aggressive growth playbook. The company is accelerating commercialization across its product lineup, expanding international sales capacity, and investing in production infrastructure to meet surging global demand for autonomous systems. Consequently, management expects those investments to drive roughly 10% year-over-year growth in both revenue and EBITDA.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, AeroVironment delivered exactly what a defense-tech investor wants to see: explosive top-line growth, record results, and guidance that clears the bar. While softer EPS guidance and uncertain federal funding timing temper the story slightly, the market’s 30% premarket surge makes the verdict clear — for now, Wall Street is betting heavily on the drone maker’s trajectory.