Aerospace and defense company AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) will be reporting results tomorrow after the bell. Here’s what you need to know.
AeroVironment beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 2.1% last quarter, reporting revenues of $189.5 million, up 24.4% year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates but full-year EPS guidance missing analysts’ expectations significantly.
Is AeroVironment a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.
This quarter, analysts are expecting AeroVironment’s revenue to be flat year on year at $181.4 million, slowing from the 62% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.68 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. AeroVironment has only missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates once over the last two years, exceeding top-line expectations by 6.7% on average.
Looking at AeroVironment’s peers in the defense contractors segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Mercury Systems delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 13%, beating analysts’ expectations by 12.5%, and Leidos reported revenues up 6.9%, topping estimates by 3%. Mercury Systems traded up 23.3% following the results while Leidos was also up 9.4%.
Read our full analysis of Mercury Systems’s results here and Leidos’s results here.
There has been positive sentiment among investors in the defense contractors segment, with share prices up 9.7% on average over the last month. AeroVironment is down 5.6% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $227.28 (compared to the current share price of $203.49).
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