AeroVironment climbs after US Army drone contract wins, Raymond James upgrade

AeroVironment

23/03/2026 16:41

Updates with Raymond James analyst commentary

** AeroVironment's AVAV.O shares up 4% at $205.69 on Mon after U.S. Army contract wins and Raymond James upgrade

** On Fri, AVAV received from the Army two firm-fixed-price contract awards for its P550 long-range reconnaissance drones worth $117.3 mln and for its Red Dragon systems and related equipment worth $17.6 mln

    ** Raymond James raises rating on AVAV to 'market perform' from 'underperform', pointing to valuation following the stock's ~35% decline since Mar 2

    ** AVAV's multiple compression (from ~34x NTM EBITDA to ~28x), negative estimate revisions, and significant stock underperformance balance the risk/reward, Raymond James analyst team led by Brian Gesuale wrote in a note to clients

    ** BTIG analyst Andre Madrid reiterated his 'buy' rating, saying contract awards are further evidence of broad-based momentum across AVAV's Autonomous Systems (AxS) segment

    ** On Mar 10, AVAV

      slashed its fiscal 2026 rev target to $1.85-$1.95 bln, from $1.95-$2.0 bln, and posted $151.3 mln goodwill impairment, a charge tied to halt of the U.S. Space Force’s SCAR satellite communications program

    ** Avg rating of 19 brokerages on the stock is "buy"; median PT of $310 down from $390.50 a month ago, per LSEG

** With move on Mon, AVAV stock down ~15% YTD, including ~18% drop this month

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))