ARLINGTON, Va. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 28, 2022 — AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended April 30, 2022.

Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Highlights

• Fourth quarter revenue of $132.6 million and record fiscal year 2022 revenues of $445.7 million, primarily due to higher service revenue and recent acquisitions, which more than offset sales declines in some product segments

• Fourth quarter gross margin of $48.6 million and $141.2 million for fiscal 2022

• Fourth quarter net income attributable to AeroVironment of $7.3 million, or $0.29 per diluted share

• Net loss attributable to AeroVironment for fiscal year 2022 of $4.2 million, or $(0.17) per diluted share

“Our team executed well in the fourth quarter enabling the Company to meet our guidance for fiscal 2022, despite ongoing macroeconomic challenges,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment president and chief executive officer. “We are confident that fiscal 2023 will be a solid organic growth year for the business.

“During the quarter, the Company continued to face supply chain constraints and a tight labor market, but several factors point to strengthening demand and an overall improving outlook. First, the federal government passed its fiscal 2022 omnibus appropriations bill in March, and contract decision-making has begun to accelerate – which, we believe, will continue through the end of September. At the same time, the war in Ukraine has brought increased awareness of our portfolio of innovative solutions, including the highly relevant Switchblade tactical missile system, and we anticipate benefiting from higher order volume going forward.

“We’re proud of our accomplishments in this difficult year and of the assistance we’ve provided to Ukraine and our allies. We still face continuing macroeconomic challenges in operating the business but opportunities abound for our broad portfolio of unmanned robotic solutions. Our products and services enjoy strong bipartisan support in Congress, and we anticipate orders accelerating heading into calendar 2023. An improving mix of hardware sales should also lead to improved bottom line results. Overall, the future looks bright and I’d like to thank our employees, customers and shareholders for their dedication and continued support.”

FISCAL 2022 FOURTH QUARTER RESULTS

Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was $132.6 million, a decrease of 2% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 revenue of $136.0 million. The decrease in revenue reflects a decrease in product sales of $22.7 million, partially offset by higher service revenue of $19.3 million. The decrease in revenue was primarily due to a decrease in revenue in the Tactical Missile Systems (“TMS”) segment of $19.0 million and the Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“Small UAS”) segment of $11.7 million. These decreases were partially offset by an increase in revenue from the Unmanned Ground Vehicles product line of $8.5 million and the Medium Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“MUAS”) segment of $7.2 million, as a result of our acquisitions of Arcturus UAV (“Arcturus”) and Telerob GmbH (“Telerob”) in February and May 2021, respectively, and an increase in the High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (“HAPS”) segment of $6.0 million and an increase in customer-funded research and development revenue of $5.5 million.

Gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was $48.6 million, a decrease of 18% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 gross margin of $59.7 million. The decrease in gross margin reflects lower product margin of $14.8 million, partially offset by higher service margin of $3.8 million. As a percentage of revenue, gross margin decreased to 37% from 44%. Gross margin was negatively impacted by $3.9 million of intangible amortization expense and other related non-cash purchase accounting expenses in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 as compared to $2.6 million in the fourth 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 product sales.

Income from operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was $13.0 million, a decrease of $4.8 million from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 income from operations of $17.8 million. The decrease in income from operations was primarily the result of a decrease in gross margin of $11.0 million, partially offset by a decrease in research and development (“R&D”) expense of $3.4 million and a decrease in selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expense of $2.9 million. SG&A expense included acquisition-related expenses and intangible amortization expense of $4.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 as compared to $6.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021. SG&A expense in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 also included additional headcount and support costs associated with the acquisition of Telerob.

Other income, net, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was $5.3 million, as compared to other expense, net of $9.4 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021. The increase in other income, net was primarily due to a legal accrual related to our former EES business recorded in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, as compared to a $6.5 million gain related to the sale of the Company’s interest in the HAPSMobile joint venture in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.

Provision for income taxes for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was $15.5 million, as compared to a benefit from income taxes of $2.2 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021. The increase in provision for income taxes was primarily due to the increase in income before income taxes.

Equity method investment income, net of tax, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was $4.4 million, as compared to equity method investment income, net of tax of $0.4 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.

Net income attributable to AeroVironment for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was $7.3 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, as compared to $10.9 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.

Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was $0.30 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, as compared to $1.04 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.

BACKLOG

As of April 30, 2022, funded backlog (defined as remaining performance obligations under firm orders for which funding is currently appropriated to us under a customer contract) was $210.8 million, as compared to $211.8 million as of April 30, 2021.

FISCAL 2023 — OUTLOOK FOR THE FULL YEAR

For the fiscal year 2023, the Company expects revenue of between $490 million and $520 million, net income of between $11 million and $18 million, Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of between $82 million and $92 million, earnings per diluted share of between $0.42 and $0.72 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, which excludes amortization of intangible assets, of between $1.35 and $1.65.

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, June 28, 2022, at 4:30 pm Eastern Time that will be webcast live. Wahid Nawabi, chairman, 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.