Market AnalysisJun 30, 20262 Min

AeroVironment Q4 earnings leave big impact: Stock jumps 20% as revenue doubles

$1.2 Billion Order Backlog

Shares of drone manufacturer AeroVironment Inc. shot up about 20% to $167.59 in after-hours trading on Monday after the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter numbers beat estimates across the board.

CEO Wahid Nawabi called this the company’s “strongest financial performance in our history” and looked confident about the strong demand for the company’s products. “We are confident our proven ability to deliver at speed will continue to drive opportunities for AV across our global customer base,” he said in a statement.

Revenue doubles

AeroVironment announced that revenue for Q4 FY26 was $641.6 million, up 133% compared to $275.1 million for Q4 FY2025. The number was also significantly higher than a consensus estimate of $559 million.

The company’s full-year revenue also rose 141% to a record $1.98 billion. The sharp growth in revenue was attributed to the acquisitions of aerospace and defence technology companies BlueHalo (in May 2025) and Empirical Systems Aerospace (in March 2026). They collectively accounted for $282.3 million of the top line during the fourth quarter.

The company secured $2.7 billion in annual bookings, achieving a robust 1.4 book-to-bill ratio. Further, its funded backlog stood at $1.2 billion as of April 30, 2026, up from $726.6 million as of April 30, 2025.

Gross profit margins

AeroVironment’s gross margin for Q4 FY26 was $202.6 million, which was double the $100.3 million number recorded for Q4 FY25.

However, as a percentage of revenue, gross margin fell to 32% from 36%, primarily due to an increase in the proportion of service revenue resulting from the BlueHalo acquisition and the increased amortisation and other non-cash purchase accounting expenses, the company said in its earnings statement.

Income from operations

The drone maker said that income from operations for Q4 FY26 was $56.9 million, growing multifold when compared to income from operations of $13.8 million for Q4 FY25. The increase was primarily due to an increase in gross margin.

Net income for the quarter was $63.2 million, or $1.25 per diluted share, as compared to net income of $16.7 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, in the year-ago period.

Outlook remains strong

For FY27, AeroVironment expects revenue of $2.125 billion to $2.225 billion, net income of $8 million to $24 million and earnings per diluted share of between $0.16 and $0.48.

Meanwhile, Nawabi said that as global defence spending priorities shift toward drone warfare capabilities, AeroVironment is well positioned to benefit from the rising global demand for drones, counter-drones and space technology.