AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) Shares Up 2% – Still a Buy?

Shares of AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) shot up 2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $219.51 and last traded at $211.88. 2,876,502 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 43% from the average session volume of 2,011,184 shares. The stock had previously closed at $207.73.

Key AeroVironment News

Here are the key news stories impacting AeroVironment this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Institutional and technical support: MarketBeat highlights institutional accumulation and a technical bottom near $200, arguing the pullback is a possible long‑term value entry if AVAV executes on backlog and commercial expansion. AeroVironment Touches Down On Value Opportunity
• Positive Sentiment: Backlog and demand resilience: commentary and social‑data summaries note a record backlog (~$1.1B) and sustained demand for unmanned/counter‑drone systems, supporting medium‑term revenue visibility despite timing issues. QuiverQuant earnings discussion
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts mostly kept buy/overweight ratings even after trimming targets — the cuts lower near‑term upside expectations but preserve buy case from many firms. This creates mixed sentiment: upside remains if execution rebounds. Analyst reactions and price targets
• Negative Sentiment: Q3 miss and guidance cut: AVAV reported ~143% YoY revenue growth but missed revenue and adjusted EPS estimates and lowered FY26 EPS to $2.75–$3.10, which triggered the initial selloff and increased near‑term uncertainty. Q3 miss and shares plunge
• Negative Sentiment: Contract visibility risk: reports of a stop‑work/termination risk on the Space Force SCAR program (~$1.4–1.7B cited in some coverage) amplify revenue timing and backlog uncertainty. SCAR contract uncertainty
• Negative Sentiment: Financing and liquidity risk: disclosure of $727M in notes has raised concerns that leverage and covenants will tighten, increasing liquidity risk for investors to monitor. Notes raise and leverage risk
• Negative Sentiment: Headline/legal and insider risk: a Pomerantz investor probe was announced and the CFO disclosed a small share sale — both add short‑term headline risk and may amplify volatility. Pomerantz investigation CFO Form 4

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AVAV. Raymond James Financial reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of AeroVironment in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on AeroVironment from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of AeroVironment from $330.00 to $295.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of AeroVironment from $335.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of AeroVironment from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $318.78.

AeroVironment Trading Up 2.0%

The company has a current ratio of 5.08, a quick ratio of 4.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.82, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50 day moving average of $282.58 and a 200-day moving average of $292.68.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The aerospace company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). AeroVironment had a negative net margin of 13.93% and a positive return on equity of 3.52%. The company had revenue of $408.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.94 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 143.4% compared to the same quarter last year. AeroVironment has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.750-3.100 EPS. Analysts anticipate that AeroVironment, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AeroVironment

In other news, CAO Brian Charles Shackley sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.92, for a total value of $50,184.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,994 shares in the company, valued at $1,504,014.48. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin Patrick Mcdonnell sold 396 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.55, for a total value of $88,921.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 16,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,598,638.30. The trade was a 2.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 4,474 shares of company stock valued at $1,390,404 in the last 90 days. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in AeroVironment during the 3rd quarter worth about $314,890,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AeroVironment by 14.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,478,114 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $991,089,000 after acquiring an additional 433,830 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AeroVironment during the fourth quarter worth about $94,655,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in AeroVironment by 24,798.7% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 315,716 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $99,416,000 after acquiring an additional 314,448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in AeroVironment by 75.6% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 609,019 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $173,540,000 after purchasing an additional 262,239 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.38% of the company’s stock.

AeroVironment Company Profile

AeroVironment, Inc (NASDAQ:AVAV) is a technology company specializing in unmanned aerial systems (UAS), tactical missiles and precision loitering munitions, electric vehicle charging and scalable energy systems. Headquartered in Monrovia, California, the company develops solutions for defense, public safety and commercial markets. Their offerings include small UAS for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as advanced weapons systems designed to meet the needs of modern military operations.

The company’s unmanned aerial systems portfolio features platforms such as the Raven, Puma and Switchblade series, which are deployed by the U.S.