Shares in AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) displayed some spring in their step early Wednesday afternoon, hours after reporting financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended April 30, 2017.
Fourth-quarter revenue came in at $125.4 million, an increase of 48% from the prior-year figure of $84.8 million, largely because of an increase in sales in the company’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) segment of $39.8 million and an increase in sales in its Efficient Energy Systems (EES) segment of about $800,000.
Net income in Q4 was $30.5 million compared to $5.4 million in the prior-year quarter.
Full-year revenue was $264.9 million, an increase of $264.1 million from the year before. The increase in revenue resulted from an increase in sales of the EES segment of $5.6 million, partially offset by a decrease in sales in its UAS segment of $4.8 million. Full-year net income was $12.5 million compared to net income for fiscal 2016 of $9 million.
For fiscal 2018, the company expects to generate revenue of between $280 million and $300 million, and earnings per diluted share of between $0.45 and $0.65. For the fiscal’s first quarter, AVAV expects to generate revenue of between $40 million and $44 million, and loss per diluted share of between $0.32 and $0.40.
CEO Wahid Nawabi was quoted as saying “our team executed our fiscal 2017 plan effectively, growing year-end funded backlog by 19% over the previous year to $78 million, while creating value for our customers, employees and stockholders and positioning AeroVironment for long-term growth.”
AVAV stock enjoyed a surge of $1.38 per share, or 4.2%, to greet early Wednesday afternoon at $33.87, a new 52-week high.
