AeroVironment Q4 Lands A Direct Hit

AeroVironment nailed the bullseye with its latest report on the three things investors wanted most — growth, bookings, and backlog. The defense technology company reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $641.6 million, up 133% from a year earlier, while non-GAAP earnings rose to $1.84 per share. Shares closed up 18.7% Tuesday and were little changed to slightly higher in early Wednesday premarket trading, as investors looked at the surge in sales and decided that drone demand had finally hit the target.

The quarter showed that AeroVironment’s business is now part of a much bigger defense-tech portfolio that goes well beyond drones. The company’s Autonomous Systems segment generated $492.4 million in revenue, while its Space, Cyber and Directed Energy segment added $149.2 million. AeroVironment also benefited from its BlueHalo and Empirical Systems Aerospace acquisitions, which contributed $282.3 million of revenue in the quarter. That gives the company a wider defense-tech pitch, spanning drones, loitering munitions, counter-drone systems, space, cyber, and directed-energy systems.

The rally was not just about what AeroVironment sold, but what it still has lined up. AeroVironment reported fiscal-year bookings of $2.7 billion, a book-to-bill ratio of 1.4, and funded backlog of $1.2 billion, up from $726.6 million a year earlier. Those numbers add up to something more concrete than the usual defense-tech buzzwords. Demand for drones may be what all the fuss is about, but funded backlog is what tells shareholders there is actual money behind this mission.

A big quarter can launch a stock, but keeping it in the air will need steady execution. For fiscal 2027, the company guided for revenue of $2.125 billion to $2.225 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $3.02 to $3.34 per share, leaving plenty of execution pressure after Tuesday’s jump. Still, after a year shaped by acquisitions, integration costs, and investor doubt, AeroVironment finally delivered a quarter that put the company back on the radar.

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