AeroVironment (AVAV) To Report Q2 Earnings: What's In Store?

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) is set to release second-quarter fiscal 2020 results on Dec 3, 2019, after market close.

In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 111.43%, the average four-quarter beat being 86.67%.

Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Factors at Play

Continuing with its usual trend, AeroVironment secured a handful of contracts in the fiscal second quarter as well. These contract wins include a deal worth $5.3 million for offering Puma3 AE systems and support equipment. Such deal gains might have boosted the company’s backlog count in the to-be-reported quarter.

Meanwhile, AeroVironment successfully launched a few innovative products in the market during the quarter to be reported. In September, it unveiled its VAPOR all-electric Helicopter UAS product line while in October, its Puma All Environment small UAS product line was introduced. Such product rollouts are expected to have aided the company’s top line in the soon-to-be-reported quarter.

In line with this, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AeroVironment’s second-quarter fiscal revenues is pegged at $80.1 million, indicating a 9.8% improvement from the year-ago reported figure.

Although notable revenue growth is expected to have pushed up the company’s quarterly bottom line, integration costs associated with the Pulse Aerospace acquisition might have marred earnings growth in the to-be-reported results.

Currently, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AeroVironment’s second-quarter fiscal earnings stands at 30 cents, suggesting an increase of 3.5% from the prior-year reported number.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for AeroVironment this time around. This is because a stock needs to have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for beating estimates. But this is not the case here as you see below.

Earnings ESP: AeroVironment has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: AeroVironment currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Recent Defense Releases

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.’s (NYSE:HII) third-quarter 2019 earnings of $3.74 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.63 by 3%. However, the bottom line decreased 29.3% from $5.29 registered in the prior-year quarter.

Textron Inc (NYSE:TXT) reported third-quarter 2019 earnings from continuing operations of 95 cents per share, outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 85 cents by 11.8%. In addition, the bottom line surged 55.7% from the year-ago quarter.

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) recorded third-quarter 2019 earnings from continuing operations of $3.14 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.06 by 2.6%. The reported figure also improved 10.2% from the prior-year quarter’s $2.85.

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