Why this name is on the tape
AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) is an Arlington, Virginia defense-technology company. The live products are small uncrewed aircraft and loitering munitions — Switchblade is the franchise name — plus counter-UAS, space, cyber, and directed energy after BlueHalo closed on 1 May 2025. Empirical Systems Aerospace (ESAero) closed on 16 March 2026.
This article keeps AeroVironment’s $480.5 million quarter and the 8 September LOCUST export order apart from unfunded backlog and from a $2.125–$2.225 billion fiscal-2027 target. It is not a ranking of the stock and not a trade instruction.
What printed for the quarter ended 1 August 2026
For the quarter ended 1 August 2026 AeroVironment reported revenue of $480.5 million, up 6% from $454.7 million. The company released those fiscal first-quarter 2027 figures on 9 September 2026. Autonomous Systems billed $346.0 million. Space, Cyber and Directed Energy billed $134.5 million. Product sales and contract services both rose. A 6% lift on a BlueHalo-inclusive year-ago quarter is not the 133% jump of last year’s fourth quarter, when the acquisitions were still ramping into the print.
GAAP net loss was $5.1 million, or $(0.10) a share, versus a $67.4 million loss a year earlier. The current quarter still carried $43.4 million of intangible amortization and other purchase-accounting charges. Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA was $53.4 million. Bookings were about $0.7 billion, a 1.4 book-to-bill. Funded backlog was $1.5 billion at 1 August 2026, up from $1.2 billion at 30 April 2026. Funded backlog is remaining performance obligations on firm, appropriated orders. It is not unfunded awards and not IDIQ ceilings.
LOCUST booked a first export order. The customer is still unnamed.
On 8 September 2026 AeroVironment said it received its first international purchase order for the LOCUST laser weapon system, a direct commercial sale valued at more than $50 million. The company said the order covers an initial delivery of systems and associated support. It did not name the customer or the country. A purchase order is not the $480.5 million quarter, and an unnamed buyer is not a published delivery schedule.
The same release pointed back to a U.S. Army Enduring-High Energy Laser selection the company has put at $464.8 million — described as a production contract for high-energy lasers. That Army seat is a domestic production baseline. It is not this export order, and it is not Q1 product sales already in the bank twice.
Fiscal 2026 already printed. Fiscal 2027 is still a range.
For the year ended 30 April 2026 AeroVironment reported $1,976.8 million of revenue, up 141% from $820.6 million. Fourth-quarter revenue was $641.6 million. BlueHalo and ESAero contributed $282.3 million of that fourth quarter. Fiscal 2026 GAAP net loss was $265.1 million, or $(5.40) a share, after a $240.7 million goodwill impairment. Q4 itself printed $63.2 million of net income, or $1.25 a share. A profitable fourth quarter does not rewrite the year’s impairment.
For fiscal 2027 the company said it still expected revenue of $2.125 billion to $2.225 billion, GAAP net income of $10 million to $27 million, and non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of $305 million to $325 million. Management said the year should be heavier in the second half. Those are company targets, not a print. Unfunded backlog and remaining Switchblade or FMS IDIQ ceilings sit outside the $1.5 billion funded pile.
What this does not tell you
A $480.5 million quarter, a $1.5 billion funded backlog, and an unnamed LOCUST export order above $50 million are evidence that AeroVironment billed more autonomous systems and BlueHalo-era space and cyber work than a year ago, and that one foreign buyer signed for an initial laser delivery. They are not proof that fiscal 2027 lands inside $2.125–$2.225 billion, that the Army E-HEL ceiling becomes that many fielded systems, or that the export customer is named or repeats.
On MarketNeon, AVAV is a ticker like any other: price, volume, crowd mentions, and headlines can run hot on a drone or laser clip while the next three quarters are still a target. This article is context for those prints. It does not rank the name, and it does not tell anyone to buy or sell.