AEVEX's 10% drop on a public offering of about 8 million shares could be a good buying opportunity, especially if the stock falls steeply after the open. AEVEX is a prime contractor and enabler for US unmanned aerial systems strategies, designing, building and supporting autonomous, modular and attritable systems for military and intelligence use. x.com 

AEVEX stands to benefit from the $75 billion 2026 US drone budget request, which a defense official said mostly targets evaluating, buying or modifying drone systems already in use. AEVEX has shipped 10,000 Group I-V drones to Ukraine under two Defense Department contracts worth $1.2 billion. Most of the request should be approved, and it does not depend on Ukraine, so a possible Russia-Ukraine negotiation need not hurt the case. x.com  x.com 

Trump's 100% tariffs on foreign-made drones should send demand soaring for US drone makers and suppliers. AeroVironment has a $1.2B funded backlog; Kratos has a $2.1B backlog and jet drones with no foreign substitute; Ondas, the fastest grower, posted a record $83.8M quarter. Red Cat's Black Widow is an Army program of record, Unusual Machines makes 15,000 NDAA-compliant motors a month, AIRO has a $163M drone backlog and LightPath's US-made infrared optics become the default. x.com  x.com  x.com  … Show more

AEVEX Aerospace is a far more reasonably priced way into defense. @michaelsikand calls it a $3.6B Anduril competitor that shipped 10K drones to Ukraine, guides to $800M of 2026 revenue, beat Anduril on an Army program and is valued over $1B below Ondas despite 5x the forward revenue. Execution will be judged quarter by quarter. Risks are competition, lumpy contract-based growth and margins that may barely expand. x.com 

AVEX is taking off because it meets irreplaceable defense demand for low-cost, expendable kamikaze drones. The Russia-Ukraine war shows masses of cheap drones outpacing costly missiles and jets, and its modular, 3D-printed one-way attack drone can be mass-produced cheaply, fitting the Pentagon's Replicator push for swarming systems. It held $356.6M of funded backlog in late March, 93% due to become 2026 revenue, with 88% of revenue from the US government. As a new IPO, it has no trapped holders. … Show more

Drone stocks fell in 2026 even as backlogs hit records: Ukraine turned aircraft into ammunition, and the Pentagon's 2027 request holds nearly $75B for drones and counter-drone. AeroVironment's reordered loitering munitions and Kratos's jet drones are highest conviction. Counter-drone names Ondas, Axon, Motorola Solutions, Safe Pro, DroneShield and Rheinmetall gain as threats grow, Unusual Machines from Chinese-parts bans. Primes bury drone exposure; pure plays may not convert backlog. x.com  … Show more

Ondas Holdings' valuation is hard to justify, and its long-term risk/reward looks less favorable than AeroVironment or Kratos. Per @rzayev7895's read of the earnings, growth comes from acquisitions rather than organically, share count rose 200-300%, market cap roughly quadrupled, cash comes from stock sales, and most backlog arrived with acquired companies. Ondas is more than drones, with critical private networks, but that does not change the valuation view. x.com  x.com  x.com 

Drone stocks look obvious winners for the next few years as one of the earliest clear beneficiaries of the robotics revolution. Ondas and AVEX are the preferred exposures, and AeroVironment is also a great pick whose pullback looks overdone relative to its fundamental story. x.com 

Aevex Aerospace isn't cheap just because its EV/revenue or price-to-sales multiples look reasonable next to AeroVironment and Kratos. A dollar of Aevex revenue is not worth the same, as those two have much more sophisticated technology, while Aevex focuses on low-cost drones, an even more competitive market. It is worth considering only once people stop talking about it. x.com 

Trump's 100% tariffs on imported drones, effective September 3, force the largest import substitution the drone industry has seen, favoring US makers. AeroVironment already builds at scale and won a $400M Army laser counter-drone contract; Kratos has a record $2.01B backlog; AEVEX's Phoenix Ghost is combat-proven, with a $503M backlog; Red Cat is the closest public DJI replacement; and Unusual Machines makes motors and flight controllers to replace Chinese parts, which the tariff also hits. … Show more