AeroVironment Inc Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Ken Herbert - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Good afternoon, Wahid, Kevin, and Denise, really nice results. Maybe next, Wahid. Yes. Maybe, Wahid, just to start off. Obviously, good revenues. You didn't change the full year outlook. I think you've obviously got better visibility at the 82% than you've had at this point in prior years. Can you just talk about some of the puts and takes as we think about the $1.9 billion versus $2 billion full-year revenue outlook and how you're thinking about risk of the guidance on the top line and opportunities to maybe outperform that this year?

Question: Anthony Valentini - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Thank you for the question. I'm curious, are you guys seeing increased competition now that there is an emphasis on the unleashing of American drone dominance? And how do you think price will be impacted over time by competition, like you guys on your Switchblades, specifically, I think REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 09, 2025 / 8:30PM, AVAV.OQ - Q1 2026 AeroVironment Inc Earnings Call you guys have talked about low hundreds of thousands of dollars as the price there. If there's more competition over time, is there a risk that, that price is going to go down and margins will suffer?

Question: Louie DiPalma - William Blair Capital Partners - Analyst : You announced the AV_Halo unified software platform last week. Can you talk about how your software integrates with third-party hardware providers in addition to the AV portfolio of systems? And secondly, is there the potential that your software platform can be open to third-party software developers such that others can build applications on top of your software, similar to how like Palantir has their Maven Smart System and it's becoming a platform and you have this command and control system that seems to have a lot of similarities there for command and control for the S UAS and C UAS and your count -- your laser systems, et cetera. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 09, 2025 / 8:30PM, AVAV.OQ - Q1 2026 AeroVironment Inc Earnings Call

Question: Louie DiPalma - William Blair Capital Partners - Analyst : Thanks really extensive answer, Wahid. And I will save the rest of my questions for Albuquerque. So Thanks, everyone.

Question: Jan-Frans Engelbrecht - Robert W. Baird & Co Inc - Analyst : Congrats on a very strong set of results. I guess with the BlueHalo now operating for the group and clearly, a big domestic presence. I just wanted to sort of have the sense of the exportability of the BlueHalo product offerings. Just given sort of what Europe is planning to spend and sort of their strength in sort of lack of industrial base to do things themselves, but just look at things like sort of the local system and space capabilities that you now have. If you could just talk more about that. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 09, 2025 / 8:30PM, AVAV.OQ - Q1 2026 AeroVironment Inc Earnings Call And then just a small addition, but with the Red Dragon now being placed on the blue list US period last in August, does that sort of imply that it can be explored immediately? Or is that near term, more of a domestic opportunity?

Question: Jan-Frans Engelbrecht - Robert W. Baird & Co Inc - Analyst : Great. Very helpful. And just a quick follow-up. In terms of Golden Dome, we're obviously that great program win in [GEO with Legend Terminals] where you sort of seem to have no competition, really. And we've seen in lower or with sort of the problems that vendors are experiencing on the optical terminals. Is that -- so I mean, would you still consider that a Golden Dome opportunity given that it's going to have a bit more latency than the satellites in low Earth orbit? And I guess a follow-on, is there any willingness to move down into that orbit just given sort of the delays in vendors have seen in the PWSA program?

Question: Greg Konrad - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Maybe just kind of following up on that question. I mean in the script, you called out 20 programs, $20 billion over the next five years. Can you maybe talk about how much of that is competitive versus follow-on? And when you think out the next maybe six months, what are some of the larger decisions within that pipeline that you expect to be made competitively?

Question: Greg Konrad - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : And I guess just as a follow-up, I mean that part seems to kind of fit what we're hearing about maybe how Golden Dome is awarded. I mean you called it out a couple of times in the script, but how do you think about award timing or decisions tied to that program, just given the accelerated schedule? And how much of that opportunity is maybe tied to Golden Dome?

Question: Colin Canfield - Cantor Fitzgerald LP - Analyst : Could you maybe just walk us through the cash flow bridge for the rest of the year. And essentially kind of how should we think about normalized working capital balances for the business maybe as a magnitude in terms of total dollars or as a percentage of revenue?

Question: Colin Canfield - Cantor Fitzgerald LP - Analyst : Got it. I just your normalized view in terms of kind of Capex growth environment? Is there like a kind of proxy for how large the account would be, like a rough kind of sense?

Question: Colin Canfield - Cantor Fitzgerald LP - Analyst : How much working capital should go onto the balance sheet? Just how much -- REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 09, 2025 / 8:30PM, AVAV.OQ - Q1 2026 AeroVironment Inc Earnings Call

Question: Trevor Walsh - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. I wanted to just follow up on the $240 million work for the laser terminals. I understand a three-year delivery period. Can you maybe just give us a rough framework for how that revenue will probably flow over the course of that? And then just kind of what the kind of upside opportunity is something similar to that deal or just timing of that potential upside? Just again, I know just not specifics, but just from a general outlook.