AVAVAeroVironment
Is the business good?
The checks split: margins widening, but 2 of 9 health tests passed.
Weak, deteriorating fundamentals. Nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year health from the filings.
Operating margin has widened over the past few years, the business is getting more profitable per dollar of sales.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is AVAV?
AeroVironment earns −4.4% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 13 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- −13%
Operating margin · Aerospace & Defense median 9.6% · 12 months to Q1 2027
- Share count, year on year
- +6.3%
Share count, year on year · shareholders own a smaller slice than a year ago
- R&D as % of revenue
- 5.9%
R&D as % of revenue
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2021 | 11% |
| FY2022 | −2.2% |
| FY2023 | −33% |
| FY2024 | 10% |
| FY2025 | 5.0% |
| FY2026 | −16% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2027
- 26%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2027
- −13%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2027
- −10%
- Free cash flow margin
- −1.3%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 5.9%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $2.00B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- −$25M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- −$203M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- −4.4%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Customers and suppliers
Who buys from AVAV and who it buys from, as the companies report it.
- U.S. government85%
Share of revenue · FY2026 10-K
None disclosed.
A company has to disclose every customer behind 10% or more of its revenue. Each share comes from the latest annual report of the company that states it and shows on both companies’ pages; AVAV’s own figures are from its FY2026 10-K. Smaller customers and suppliers go unreported.
Aerospace & Defense
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