AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today reported financial results for its fiscal third quarter ended January 29, 2022.

“The Company continued to face several challenges during the third quarter, particularly in terms of supply chain constraints, the ongoing effects from the federal government’s Continuing Resolution, and a tight labor market,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment chairman, president and chief executive officer. “However, these issues were anticipated, and we made measurable progress in addressing and mitigating such headwinds going forward. The Company’s results were largely in line with our forecast, although certain work was pushed into the fourth quarter, and we are maintaining our guidance for fiscal year 2022.

“We’re actively taking steps to reduce costs, manage working capital, and increase operational efficiency during this challenging operating environment. This includes partnering with suppliers to improve delivery times, consolidating our facilities footprint, and streamlining our workforce. While such actions, in the near term, negatively impact both margins and working capital, they improve product throughput and overall customer satisfaction while positioning us for future success.

“We’re pleased with our solid backlog as well as the many opportunities which lie ahead for AeroVironment. Our focus on winning the US Army’s Future Tactical UAS – FTUAS – Increment 1 serves as the proving ground for our Medium UAS systems which, if all goes well, could lead to significant contracts in the quarters to come. Given this opportunity, and expanding demand from overseas customers, I believe the Company is on the right path for better results in fiscal 2023 – including increased margins, stronger organic growth, and higher cash flow. We’re investing in leading-edge technologies that will provide for years of solid performance and the returns our investors have come to expect.”

FISCAL 2022 THIRD QUARTER RESULTS

Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $90.1 million, an increase of 14% from the third quarter of fiscal 2021 revenue of $78.8 million. The increase in revenue reflects higher service revenue of $27.1 million, partially offset by a decrease in product sales of $15.7 million. The increase in revenue was primarily due to revenue from the Medium Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“MUAS”) segment of $21.2 million and the Unmanned Ground Vehicles product line of $9.6 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 customer-funded research and development revenue of $7.7 million. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in revenue in the Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“Small UAS”) segment of $26.2 million.

Gross margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $21.4 million, a decrease of 25% from the third quarter of fiscal 2021 gross margin of $28.6 million. The decrease in gross margin reflects lower product margin of $9.3 million, partially offset by higher service margin of $2.1 million. As a percentage of revenue, gross margin decreased to 24% from 36%. Gross margin was negatively impacted by $5.1 million of intangible amortization expense and other related non-cash purchase accounting expenses in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 as compared to $0.6 million in the third 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.

Loss from operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $14.1 million, an increase of $13.5 million from the third quarter of fiscal 2021 loss from operations of $0.6 million. The increase in loss from operations was primarily the result of a decrease in gross margin of $7.2 million and an increase in selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expense of $6.9 million, partially offset by a decrease in research and development (“R&D”) expense of $0.6 million. SG&A expense included acquisition-related expenses and intangible amortization expense of $4.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 as compared to $3.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2021. SG&A expense in the current quarter also included additional headcount and support costs associated with the acquisitions of Arcturus, ISG and Telerob.

Other expense, net, for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $1.5 million, as compared to other income, net of $0.1 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2021. The increase in other expense, net was primarily due to higher interest expense of $1.5 million resulting from the term debt issued concurrent with the acquisition of Arcturus.

Benefit from income taxes for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $15.4 million, as compared to $0.9 million for the third 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 third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $0.2 million, as compared to equity method investment loss, net of tax of $0.1 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2021.

Net income attributable to AeroVironment for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $10 thousand, or $0 per diluted share, as compared to $0.2 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2021.

Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was $0.32 for the third quarter of fiscal 2022, as compared to $0.14 for the third quarter of fiscal 2021.

BACKLOG

As of January 29, 2022, funded backlog (remaining performance obligations under firm orders for which funding is currently appropriated to us under a customer contract) was $226.3 million, as compared to $211.8 million as of April 30, 2021.

FISCAL 2022 — REVISED OUTLOOK FOR THE FULL YEAR (UNCHANGED)

For the fiscal year 2022, the Company continues to expect 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, Thursday, March 3, 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.

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 9080614 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; 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; the impact of inflation; 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.

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.