AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) shares jumped by as much as 10.55% during Tuesday’s session following a positive earnings report that showed smaller losses compared to the same quarter last year.
The American drone manufacturer posted smaller losses for the first fiscal quarter of 2017. For the quarter, the company posted losses of $0.19 per share, which is 63% lower versus losses of $0.51 per share during the same quarter last year. The company’s revenue was also up this quarter at $43.8 million compared to their revenue from the same quarter a year ago at $36.1 million representing an increase of 21%.
According to AeroVironment chief executive officer Wahid Nawabi, the company who narrowed its losses per share was part of the execution of its plan for the first quarter along with increasing their revenue. Nawabi added that the increase of 9% in their funded backlog contracts is expected to help AeroVironment meet its goals for fiscal 2018. “We remain focused on making continued progress on our long-term growth initiatives as we work to deliver results, capitalize on opportunities and create value for customers, employees, and stockholders,” added Nawabi.
Analysts initially expected a loss of $0.34 per share while their revenue was estimated to come at around $42.4 million, which means that the company was able to beat most earnings estimates.
For the quarter that ended last July 29, the company’s gross margin stood at $43.8 million which represents a jump of 21% from the same quarter last year. AeroVironment’s gross margin rose from 27% to 18%, which was attributed to the company to the decrease in warranty related costs and a jump in sales of product proportion to total revenue.
The company’s operating losses for the quarter was also almost down by half from $15.6 million to $8.2 million, which was the result of a year over year operations losses and a gross margin increase to $4.9 million as well as a $2.1 million expense cut in their research and development department. The company’s net income for the first fiscal quarter came at $0.5 million.
Along with its earnings report, the company released an adjusted earnings guidance for its fiscal year 2018. The company is expecting an earnings of $0.45 to $0.65 per share for the period while analysts expect earnings of $0.56 per share. AeroVironment is also estimating their revenue to come at around $280 million to $300 million compared to consensus analyst estimates of $293.37 million.