What Management Said
Read the full Q1 2026 transcript ↗This afternoon, we also filed a slide presentation with our earnings release and posted the presentation to the Investor section of our website under Events and Presentations. Welcome everyone to our first quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings conference call. I'll start by summarizing our quarterly performance, followed by Kevin, who will review our financial results in greater detail, and then discuss guidance for fiscal year 2026. We are better positioned than ever to drive industry-leading organic revenue growth and profitability.
Our acquisition of BlueHalo has created significant new growth opportunities in critical areas that are aligned with our customers' highest priorities, and our integration efforts are progressing ahead of plan. Our first quarter results benefited from programs tied to this acquisition, and we look forward to building on that momentum in the coming quarters. Now, let me summarize the key messages for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, which are included on slide number three of our earnings presentation. As a reminder, this is the first quarter where our results are inclusive of our recent BlueHalo acquisition.
First, we achieved another record first quarter with revenue of nearly $455 million. Second, bookings for the first quarter reached nearly $400 million, and our funded backlog grew to $1.1 billion. Fourth, we're maintaining our fiscal year 2026 guidance with revenue between $1.9 billion and $2 billion. Since our last earnings call, we announced several key program wins and milestone achievements.
- Delivered a record first quarter with revenue of nearly $455 million ($454.7M), up 140% as reported and about 18% on a per-quarter comparable basis.
- BlueHalo integration (closed May 1, 2025) was described as progressing ahead of plan, and Q1 results already benefited from acquisition-related programs; adjusted EBITDA rose to $56.6 million from $37.2 million.
- Multiple products posted outsized growth versus prior-year per-quarter revenue: Switchblade 600 up over 200%, JUMP 20 up more than 6x, LOCUST directed energy up 5x, Titan nearly doubled, and BADGER up nearly 40%.
- Won several large awards including a nearly $240 million long-haul space laser communications terminal contract, a $95 million Freedom Eagle-1 (FE-1) long-range kinetic interceptor award, and a $70 million follow-on BADGER unit.
- Bookings reached nearly $400 million with funded backlog of $1.1 billion and unfunded backlog growing to $3.1 billion; visibility to the revenue guidance midpoint was 82%, above the historical range at this point in the year.
- Strengthened the balance sheet with a $1.7 billion equity and convertible-debt financing (about $950 million used to repay BlueHalo debt), ending with $722 million of cash and investments; launched the AV_Halo software platform combining legacy AV and BlueHalo tools.
- GAAP gross margin fell to 21% from 43% a year earlier, driven by a higher service mix (31% vs 16%) and $33.7 million of incremental intangible amortization and non-cash purchase-accounting expense.
- Adjusted gross margin declined to 29% from 45%, reflecting the changed business mix and several products still early in maturation.
- Reported a GAAP net loss of $67.4 million versus net income of $21.2 million a year earlier, an $88.5 million swing due to BlueHalo purchase-accounting charges, deal/integration costs and higher interest expense.
- Adjusted EPS fell to $0.32 from $0.89, and full-year adjusted EPS guidance was reset to $3.60-$3.70 to reflect the debt refinancing.
- Unbilled receivables remained above target levels, negatively affected by the transition/alignment of contracting officers for the Switchblade product.
Guidance Changes
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 revenue | — | $1.9B-$2.0B (maintained; ~15% growth at midpoint over FY2025) |
| FY2026 adjusted EBITDA | — | $300M-$320M (maintained; ~16% of revenue full year) |
| FY2026 adjusted EPS | — | $3.60-$3.70 (revised due to debt refinancing) |
| Visibility to revenue midpoint | — | 82% |
| Adjusted gross margin (full year) | — | low 30s%, ending in the mid-30s by Q4 |
| Ukraine revenue | — | expected 5%-8% of total in FY2026 (8% in Q1) |
Performance Breakdown
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | +140% as reported (~+18% on a per-quarter basis) | First quarter to include BlueHalo; strong growth in Switchblade 600 (+200%), JUMP 20 (6x), LOCUST directed energy (5x), Titan (nearly doubled) and BADGER (~+40%). |
| Autonomous Systems (AxS) revenue | +22% vs FY2025 per-quarter | Continued demand for Puma, P550 and JUMP 20; ~35% Switchblade 600, 15% Puma, 9% Switchblade 300, 7% counter-UAS RF, 6% JUMP 20. |
| Space, Cyber & Directed Energy (SCDE) revenue | +12% vs prior-quarter FY2025 | ~19% BADGER satellite ground station, 12% LOCUST directed energy, 12% advanced R&D. |
| Adjusted EBITDA | up from $37.2M | Primarily incremental BlueHalo results; in line with expectations. |
| GAAP gross margin | down from 43% | Higher service mix (31% vs 16%) plus $33.7M of intangible amortization and other non-cash purchase-accounting expense. |
| Adjusted gross margin | down from 45% | Higher service mix and several products in early stages of maturation. |
| GAAP net income | down from net income of $21.2M | $74.9M of BlueHalo intangible amortization/purchase-accounting expense, $23.7M deal and integration costs, and $14.6M higher interest/other expense. |
| Adjusted EPS (diluted) | down from $0.89 | BlueHalo dilution and financing/interest impact. |
| Cash and investments | n/a (new balance sheet) | Completed $1.7B financing (equity + convertible debt) in the quarter; ~$950M used to repay BlueHalo acquisition debt. |
| Bookings | — | First-quarter bookings. |
| Funded backlog | — | End of Q1. |
| Unfunded backlog | — | End of Q1. |
Earnings Call Themes & Trends
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlueHalo integration | — | First quarter of combined results; integration ahead of plan, creating a ~$2 billion defense-tech enterprise across air, land, sea, space and cyber. | — |
| Program pipeline | — | Pursuing more than 20 programs of record worth over $20 billion in potential value over five years, including laser communications, FE-1, LRR (~$1B over five years), LASSO and HMIF. | — |
| Manufacturing scale | — | Operating across 12 states; building a new state-of-the-art Salt Lake City facility for demand beyond FY2027. | — |
| Software | — | Launched AV_Halo, a hardware-agnostic AI-powered software ecosystem blending legacy AV and BlueHalo tools. | — |
Q&A Summary
More on AeroVironment Inc
See how Top Bucket AI works for your firm
Request DemoStay ahead of private markets
Research and market intelligence for private-markets professionals.
You're subscribed.
Thanks for signing up.