Bullish: Analysts Just Made A Huge Upgrade To Their AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) Forecasts

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. The consensus statutory numbers for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) increased, with their view clearly much more bullish on the company's business prospects.

Following the upgrade, the most recent consensus for AeroVironment from its six analysts is for revenues of US$664m in 2024 which, if met, would be a huge 23% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Losses are expected to turn into profits real soon, with the analysts forecasting US$2.54 in per-share earnings. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$599m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.99 in 2024. So we can see there's been a pretty clear increase in analyst sentiment in recent times, with both revenues and earnings per share receiving a decent lift in the latest estimates.

View our latest analysis for AeroVironment

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the AeroVironment's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's clear from the latest estimates that AeroVironment's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 23% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2024 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 11% p.a. over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 6.6% annually. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect AeroVironment to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates for this year, expecting improving business conditions. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for this year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. The clear improvement in sentiment should be enough to get most shareholders feeling more optimistic about AeroVironment's future.

Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. We have estimates - from multiple AeroVironment analysts - going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.