AeroVironment Announces Fiscal 2024 Third Quarter Results

AeroVironment, Inc. (“AeroVironment” or the “Company”) reported today financial results for the fiscal third quarter ended January 27, 2024.

Third Quarter Highlights:

• Record third quarter revenue of $186.6 million, up 39% year-over-year
• Third quarter net income of $13.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of $28.8 million, increases of $14.6 million and $5.1 million, year-over-year, respectively
• Funded backlog of $462.8 million as of January 27, 2024

“Once again, AeroVironment has delivered outstanding results, including a record for third quarter revenue that’s nearly 40% above the same period last fiscal year,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Solid bottom-line results, fueled by record demand and strong operating execution, have us on track for our best year ever. In addition, the Company continues to show tremendous growth in the Loitering Munition Systems segment, which delivered record revenue in the quarter.

“With the increased global demand for our solutions, strong backlog and growing pipeline, AeroVironment remains well positioned for continued growth. As such, we are raising and narrowing our fiscal year revenue guidance for 2024 to between $700 million and $710 million, and we continue to anticipate double-digit revenue growth in fiscal year 2025.”

FISCAL 2024 THIRD QUARTER RESULTS

Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $186.6 million, an increase of 39% as compared to $134.4 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2023, reflecting higher product sales of $64.7 million, partially offset by lower service revenue of $12.5 million. From a segment standpoint, the year-over-year increase was due to revenue growth in Loitering Munitions Systems (“LMS”) of 140% and Unmanned Systems (“UMS”) of 23%, partially offset by a decrease in MacCready Works (“MW”) of 13%.

Gross margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $67.3 million, an increase of 48% as compared to $45.5 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2023, reflecting higher product margin of $20.1 million and higher service gross margin of $1.7 million. As a percentage of revenue, gross margin increased to 36% from 34%, primarily due to an increase in the proportion of product revenue to total revenue, partially offset by an unfavorable product mix. Gross margin was favorably impacted by a decrease in depreciation charges for in-service assets of $5.3 million related to the closure of COCO site locations during fiscal year 2023. Gross margin was negatively impacted by $4.0 million of intangible amortization expense and other related non-cash purchase accounting expenses in the third quarter of fiscal 2024 as compared to $3.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.

Income from operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $14.3 million as compared to $4.6 million for the third quarter of last fiscal year. The increase year-over-year was primarily due higher gross margin of $21.8 million, partially offset by increases in research and development (“R&D”) expense of $9.0 million and selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expense of $3.1 million.

Other income, net, for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $0.9 million, as compared to other loss, net of $5.4 million for the third quarter of last fiscal year. The increase in other income, net was primarily due to increases in net unrealized gains on investment holdings and interest income and a decrease in interest expense.

Provision for income taxes for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $1.3 million, as compared to a benefit of $(0.5) million for the third quarter of last fiscal year. The increase in provision for income taxes was primarily attributable to an increase in income before income taxes.

Net income attributable to AeroVironment for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $13.9 million, or $0.50 per diluted share, as compared to net loss attributable to AeroVironment of $(0.7) million, or $(0.03) per diluted share, in the prior-year period, respectively.

Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $28.8 million and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.63, as compared to $23.7 million and $0.33, respectively, for the third quarter of fiscal 2023.

BACKLOG

As of January 27, 2024, funded backlog (defined as remaining performance obligations under firm orders for which funding is currently appropriated to us under a customer contract) was $462.8 million, as compared to $424.1 million as of April 30, 2023.

FISCAL 2024 — OUTLOOK FOR THE FULL YEAR

For fiscal year 2024, the Company now expects revenue of between $700 million and $710 million, net income of between $51 million and $55 million, Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of between $122 million and $127 million, earnings per diluted share of between $1.86 and $2.00 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, which excludes amortization of intangible assets, other non-cash purchase accounting expenses and equity securities investments gains or losses, of between $2.69 and $2.83.

The foregoing estimates are forward-looking and reflect management’s view of current and future market conditions, subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including certain assumptions with respect to our ability to efficiently and on a timely basis integrate acquisitions, obtain and retain government contracts, changes in the timing and/or amount of government spending, react to changes in the demand for our products and services, activities of competitors, changes in the regulatory environment, and general economic and business conditions in the United States and elsewhere in the world. Investors are reminded that actual results may differ materially from these estimates.

CONFERENCE CALL AND PRESENTATION

In conjunction with this release, AeroVironment, Inc. will host a conference call today, Monday, March 4, 2024, at 4:30 pm Eastern Time that will be webcast live. Wahid Nawabi, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Kevin P. McDonnell, chief financial officer and Jonah Teeter-Balin, senior director corporate development and investor relations, will host the call.

Investors may access the call by registering via the following participant registration link up to ten minutes prior to the start time.

Participant registration URL: https://register.vevent.com/register/BI2e69517f68da41c0ade849312a1992e2

Investors may also listen to the live audio webcast via the Investor Relations page of the AeroVironment, Inc. website, http://investor.avinc.com. Please allow 15 minutes prior to the call to download and install any necessary audio software.

A supplementary investor presentation for the third quarter fiscal year 2024 can be accessed at https://investor.avinc.com/events-and-presentations.

Audio Replay

An audio replay of the event will be archived on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at http://investor.avinc.com.

ABOUT AEROVIRONMENT, INC.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) is a global leader in intelligent multi-domain robotic systems, uncrewed aircraft and ground systems, sensors, software analytics and connectivity. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, AeroVironment delivers actionable intelligence so our customers can proceed with certainty. For more information, visit www.avinc.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain words such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “project,” “plan,” or words or phrases with similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors outside of our control, that may cause our business, strategy or actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the impact of our ability to successfully close and integrate acquisitions into our operations and avoid disruptions from acquisition transactions that will harm our business, including the acquisition of Tomahawk Robotics; the recording of goodwill and other intangible assets as part of acquisitions that are subject to potential impairments in the future and any realization of such impairments; any actual or threatened disruptions to our relationships with our distributors, suppliers, customers and employees, including shortages in components for our products; the ability to timely and sufficiently integrate international operations into our ongoing business and compliance programs; reliance on sales to the U.S. government, including uncertainties in classification, pricing or potentially burdensome imposed terms for certain types of government contracts; availability of U.S. government funding for defense procurement and R&D programs; changes in the timing and/or amount of government spending, including due to continuing resolutions; adverse impacts of a U.S. government shutdown; our reliance on limited relationships to fund our development of HAPS UAS; our ability to perform under existing contracts and obtain new contracts; risks related to our international business, including compliance with export control laws; the extensive and increasing regulatory requirements governing our contracts with the U.S. government and international customers; the consequences to our financial position, business and reputation that could result from failing to comply with such regulatory requirements; unexpected technical and marketing difficulties inherent in major research and product development efforts; the impact of potential security and cyber threats or the risk of unauthorized access to and resulting misuse of our, our customers’ and/or our suppliers’ information and systems; uncertainty in the customer adoption rate of commercial use unmanned aircraft systems; failure to remain a market innovator, to create new market opportunities or to expand into new markets; unexpected changes in significant operating expenses, including components and raw materials; failure to develop new products or integrate new technology into current products; any increase in litigation activity or unfavorable results in legal proceedings, including pending class actions; our ability to respond and adapt to legal, regulatory and government budgetary changes, including those resulting from the impact of pandemics and similar outbreaks; our ability to comply with the covenants in our loan documents; our ability to attract and retain skilled employees; the impact of inflation; and general economic and business conditions in the United States and elsewhere in the world; and the failure to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

NON-GAAP MEASURES

In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), this earnings release also contains non-GAAP financial measures. See in the financial tables below the calculation of these measures, the reasons why we believe these measures provide useful information to investors, and a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.

Statement Regarding Non-GAAP Measures

The non-GAAP measures set forth above should be considered in addition to, and not as a replacement for or superior to, the comparable GAAP measures, and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. Management believes that these measures provide useful information to investors by offering additional ways of viewing our results that, when reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures, help our investors to understand the long-term profitability trends of our business and compare our profitability to prior and future periods and to our peers. In addition, management uses these non-GAAP measures to evaluate our operating and financial performance.

Non-GAAP Adjusted Operating Income

Adjusted operating income is defined as operating income before intangible amortization, amortization of non-cash purchase accounting adjustments, goodwill impairment and acquisition-related expenses.

Non-GAAP Earnings per Diluted Share

We exclude the acquisition-related expenses, amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, equity securities investments gains or losses, goodwill impairment and one-time non-operating items because we believe this facilitates more consistent comparisons of operating results over time between our newly acquired and existing businesses, and with our peer companies. We believe, however, that it is important for investors to understand that such intangible assets contribute to revenue generation and that intangible asset amortization will recur in future periods until such intangible assets have been fully amortized.

Adjusted EBITDA (Non-GAAP)

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income before interest income, interest expense, income tax expense (benefit) and depreciation and amortization including amortization of purchase accounting adjustments, adjusted for the impact of certain other non-cash items, including amortization of implementation of cloud computing arrangements, stock-based compensation, acquisition-related expenses, equity method investment gains or losses, equity securities investments gains or losses, goodwill impairment and one-time non-operating gains or losses. We present Adjusted EBITDA, which is not a recognized financial measure under U.S. GAAP, because we believe it is frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry. We believe this facilitates more consistent comparisons of operating results over time between our newly acquired and existing businesses, and with our peer companies. We believe, however, that it is important for investors to understand that such intangible assets contribute to revenue generation, intangible asset amortization will recur in future periods until such intangible assets have been fully amortized and that interest and income tax expenses will recur in future periods. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies in our industry or across different industries.

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