In the latest close session, AeroVironment (AVAV) was down 1.33% at $259.61. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.08%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.51%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.35%.
Shares of the maker of unmanned aircrafts witnessed a gain of 11.12% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Aerospace sector with its gain of 4.81%, and the S&P 500's gain of 1.21%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of AeroVironment in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.34, marking a 61.8% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $453.5 million, indicating a 139.34% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $3.23 per share and revenue of $2 billion, indicating changes of -1.52% and +144.32%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for AeroVironment. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 6.73% higher. AeroVironment presently features a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
In terms of valuation, AeroVironment is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 81.41. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 38.39.
The Aerospace – Defense Equipment industry is part of the Aerospace sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 100, positioning it in the top 41% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
