AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today reported financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended October 30, 2021.

“While we achieved second quarter and first half results in line with our expectations, headwinds to our business have intensified in recent months, requiring us to reduce our full year outlook,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment president and chief executive officer. “The negative impact from supply chain delays, extended procurement cycles due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, slower decision making in Washington tied to Continuing Resolution related budget uncertainties and staffing shortages have prevented us from realizing the growth and bottom line results expected at the start of this fiscal year. We are diligently working to manage expenses and other challenges in light of our revised outlook but are realistic regarding the lack of visibility within this ongoing environment.

“Nevertheless, we made progress during the quarter and are executing on a strategy to deliver long-term improvement in our operating performance. We have begun to demonstrate synergies within our three recently acquired businesses, exemplified by the recent integration of Switchblade 300 with the Jump 20 Medium Unmanned Air System. At the same time, our impressive team continues to deliver on new product development, including the launch of the i45 N Mantis gimbal, providing superior intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (“ISR”) for night-time operations. Furthermore, we saw traction across other growth initiatives within our Tactical Missile Systems segment by securing new orders for our Switchblade 600 and demonstrating sensor-to-shooter operations with NATO.

“Despite current market headwinds, we remain well positioned to deliver long term shareholder value through our focus on winning new business leveraging our innovative capabilities and industry-leading technology. While resetting our expectations for 2022, we are taking all steps available to mitigate these challenges going forward, ensuring the company remains on track for a fifth consecutive year of top-line growth and a path to higher investor returns.”

FISCAL 2022 SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $122.0 million, an increase of 32% from the second quarter of fiscal 2021 revenue of $92.7 million. The increase in revenue reflects an increase in service revenue of $23.9 million and product sales of $5.5 million. The increase in revenue was primarily due to revenue from the Medium Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“MUAS”) segment of $26.5 million and the Unmanned Ground Vehicles product line of $6.5 million, as a result of our acquisitions of Arcturus UAV and Telerob GmbH in February and May 2021, respectively. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in revenue in the Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“Small UAS”) segment of $3.4 million and in the other businesses of $1.1 million.

Gross margin for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $42.5 million, an increase of 4% from the second quarter of fiscal 2021 gross margin of $40.9 million. The increase in gross margin reflects higher service margin of $0.9 million and product margin of $0.7 million. As a percentage of revenue, gross margin decreased to 35% from 44%. Gross margin was impacted by $5.5 million of intangible amortization expense and other related non-cash purchase accounting expenses in the second quarter of fiscal 2022 as compared to $0.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2021. With the acquisitions of Arcturus and the Intelligent Systems Group of Progeny Systems Corp. (“ISG”), we experienced a higher proportion of service revenue, which generally has lower gross margins than do product sales.

Income from operations for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $3.3 million, a decrease of $10.6 million from the second quarter of fiscal 2021 income from operations of $13.9 million. The decrease in income from operations was primarily the result of an increase in selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expense of $9.8 million and an increase in research and development (“R&D”) expense of $2.3 million, partially offset by an increase in gross margin of $1.6 million. SG&A expense included acquisition-related expenses and intangible amortization expense of $5.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2022 as compared to $0.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2021. SG&A expense in the current quarter also included additional headcount and support costs associated with the acquisitions of Arcturus UAV, ISG and Telerob.

Other expense, net, for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $11.4 million, as compared to other income, net of $0.2 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2021. The increase in other expense, net was primarily due to an additional legal accrual of $10.0 million for the expected settlement of all claims from the buyers of our former EES business and higher interest expense of $1.4 million resulting from the term debt issued concurrent with the acquisition of Arcturus UAV.

Benefit from income taxes for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $9.5 million, as compared to a provision for income taxes of $2.5 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2021. The increase in benefit from income taxes was primarily due to the decrease in income before income taxes and an increase in certain federal income tax credits.

Equity method investment income, net of tax, for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $1.1 million, as compared to equity method investment loss, net of tax, of $9.5 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2021. The increase in equity method investment income was due to an increase in our limited partnership investment. Equity method investment loss, net of tax, for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 included a loss of $8.4 million for our proportionate share of the HAPSMobile Inc. joint venture’s impairment of its investment in Loon LLC.

Net income attributable to AeroVironment for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was $2.5 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, as compared to $2.1 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2021.

Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was $0.78 for the second quarter of fiscal 2022, as compared to $0.48 for the second quarter of fiscal 2021.

BACKLOG

As of October 30, 2021, funded backlog (remaining performance obligations under firm orders for which funding is currently appropriated to us under a customer contract) was $252.0 million, as compared to $211.8 million as of April 30, 2021.

FISCAL 2022 — REVISED OUTLOOK FOR THE FULL YEAR

Based on negative impact from supply chain delays, extended procurement cycles, slower decision making in Washington and staffing shortages, the Company has reduced its full year fiscal 2022 expectations and now expects revenue of between $440 million and $460 million, net loss of between $12 million and $8 million, Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of between $59 million and $65 million, loss per diluted share of between $(0.47) and $(0.33) and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, which excludes litigation settlement expenses, acquisition-related expenses and amortization of intangible assets, of between $1.23 and $1.37.

The foregoing estimates are forward-looking and reflect management's view of current and future market conditions, subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and including certain assumptions with respect to our ability to efficiently and on a timely basis integrate our acquisitions, obtain and retain government contracts, changes in the timing and/or amount of government spending, changes in the demand for our products and services, activities of competitors, changes in the regulatory environment, and general economic and business conditions in the United States and elsewhere in the world. Investors are reminded that actual results may differ materially from these estimates.

CONFERENCE CALL AND PRESENTATION

In conjunction with this release, AeroVironment, Inc. will host a conference call today, Tuesday, December 7, 2021, at 4:30 pm Eastern Time that will be webcast live. Wahid Nawabi, president and chief executive officer, Kevin P. McDonnell, chief financial officer and Jonah Teeter-Balin, senior director corporate development and investor relations, will host the call.

Investors may dial into the call by using the following telephone numbers, (877) 561-2749 (U.S.) or (678) 809-1029 (international) and providing the conference ID 3093207 five to ten minutes prior to the start time to allow for registration.

Investors with Internet access may listen to the live audio webcast via the Investor Relations page of the AeroVironment, Inc. website, http://investor.avinc.com. Please allow 15 minutes prior to the call to download and install any necessary audio software.

A supplementary investor presentation for the second quarter fiscal 2022 can be accessed at https://investor.avinc.com/events-and-presentations.

Audio Replay

An audio replay of the event will be archived on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at http://investor.avinc.com.

ABOUT AEROVIRONMENT, INC.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) provides technology solutions at the intersection of robotics, sensors, software analytics and connectivity that deliver more actionable intelligence so you can Proceed with Certainty. Headquartered in Virginia, AeroVironment is a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, and serves defense, government and commercial customers. For more information, visit www.avinc.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain words such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “project,” “plan,” or words or phrases with similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors outside of our control, that may cause our business, strategy or actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the impact of our recent acquisitions of Arcturus UAV, Telerob and ISG and our ability to successfully integrate them into our operations; the risk that disruptions will occur from the transactions that will harm our business; any disruptions or threatened disruptions to our relationships with our distributors, suppliers, customers and employees, including shortages in components for our products; the ability to timely and sufficiently integrate international operations into our ongoing business and compliance programs; reliance on sales to the U.S. government and related to our development of HAPS UAS; availability of U.S. government funding for defense procurement and R&D programs; changes in the timing and/or amount of government spending; our ability to perform under existing contracts and obtain new contracts; risks related to our international business, including compliance with export control laws; potential need for changes in our long-term strategy in response to future developments; the extensive regulatory requirements governing our contracts with the U.S. government and international customers; the consequences to our financial position, business and reputation that could result from failing to comply with such regulatory requirements; unexpected technical and marketing difficulties inherent in major research and product development efforts; the impact of potential security and cyber threats; changes in the supply and/or demand and/or prices for our products and services; the activities of competitors and increased competition; failure of the markets in which we operate to grow; uncertainty in the customer adoption rate of commercial use unmanned aircraft systems; failure to remain a market innovator, to create new market opportunities or to expand into new markets; changes in significant operating expenses, including components and raw materials; failure to develop new products or integrate new technology into current products; risk of litigation, including but not limited to pending litigation arising from the sale of our EES business; product liability, infringement and other claims; changes in the regulatory environment; the impact of the outbreak related to the strain of coronavirus known as COVID-19 on our business; our ability to comply with the covenants in our loan documents; our ability to attract and retain skilled employees; and general economic and business conditions in the United States and elsewhere in the world. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

NON-GAAP MEASURES

In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), this earnings release also contains non-GAAP financial measures. See in the financial tables below the calculation of these measures, the reasons why we believe these measures provide useful information to investors, and a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.

– Financial Tables Follow –

STATEMENT REGARDING NON-GAAP MEASURES

The non-GAAP measures set forth above should be considered in addition to, and not as a replacement for or superior to, the comparable GAAP measures, and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. Management believes that these measures provide useful information to investors by offering additional ways of viewing our results that, when reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures, help our investors to understand the long-term profitability trends of our business and compare our profitability to prior and future periods and to our peers. In addition, management uses these non-GAAP measures to evaluate our operating and financial performance.

NON-GAAP ADJUSTED OPERATING INCOME

Adjusted operating income is defined as operating income before intangible amortization, amortization of non-cash purchase accounting adjustments, and acquisition related expenses.

NON-GAAP EARNINGS PER DILUTED SHARE

We exclude the acquisition-related expenses, amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets and one-time non-operating items because we believe this facilitates more consistent comparisons of operating results over time between our newly acquired and existing businesses, and with our peer companies. We believe, however, that it is important for investors to understand that such intangible assets contribute to revenue generation and that intangible asset amortization will recur in future periods until such intangible assets have been fully amortized.

ADJUSTED EBITDA (NON-GAAP)

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income before interest income, interest expense, income tax expense (benefit) and depreciation and amortization including amortization of purchase accounting adjustments, adjusted for the impact of certain other items, including acquisition related expenses, equity method investment gains or losses, and one-time non-operating gains or losses. We present Adjusted EBITDA, which is not a recognized financial measure under U.S. GAAP, because we believe it is frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry. We believe this facilitates more consistent comparisons of operating results over time between our newly acquired and existing businesses, and with our peer companies. We believe, however, that it is important for investors to understand that such intangible assets contribute to revenue generation, intangible asset amortization will recur in future periods until such intangible assets have been fully amortized and that interest and income tax expenses will recur in future periods. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies in our industry or across different industries. 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211207005795/en/