AeroVironment (AVAV) closed at $185.92 in the latest trading session, marking a -9.04% move from the prior day. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 2.65%. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.35%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 4.18%.
The stock of maker of unmanned aircrafts has risen by 21.54% in the past month, leading the Aerospace sector's gain of 7.19% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.47%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of AeroVironment in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.53, indicating a 4.97% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $566.61 million, up 106% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.94 per share and revenue of $1.91 billion, which would represent changes of -10.37% and +133.23%, respectively, from the prior year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for AeroVironment. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained unchanged. AeroVironment is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, AeroVironment is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 54.74. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 36.94, so one might conclude that AeroVironment is trading at a premium comparatively.
Also, we should mention that AVAV has a PEG ratio of 2.8. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. AVAV's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.15 as of yesterday's close.
The Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 48, finds itself in the top 20% echelons of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
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AeroVironment, Inc. (AVAV): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).