NEW YORK, Jan 3, 2026, 17:12 ET — Market closed
- AeroVironment shares rose 5.9% on Friday to $256.19, leading gains in several defense names.
- The move came as investors weighed fresh U.S.-Iran tensions tied to Iran’s protest crackdown.
- A regulatory filing disclosed a small insider sale by the company’s chief accounting officer.
AeroVironment shares rose 5.9% to $256.19 in Friday’s session, the first trading day of 2026. The stock finished near the top of its intraday range.
The drone maker led a broader lift in defense shares after President Donald Trump warned the U.S. might intervene in Iran if authorities used lethal force against protesters, according to Investors.com.
The timing matters because AeroVironment is coming off a December results and guidance reset that left investors focused on whether growth and profitability arrive on schedule in the second half of the fiscal year. In a Dec. 9 presentation filed with the SEC, the company projected fiscal 2026 revenue of $1.95 billion to $2.0 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $3.40 to $3.55; non-GAAP figures exclude certain costs that companies say can obscure underlying performance. 1
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the United States would come to the aid of Iranian protesters if security forces fired on them, saying it was “locked and loaded,” Reuters reported. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the Islamic Republic would not yield to foreign pressure, Reuters said. 2
Other defense stocks also advanced on Friday, including Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Lockheed Martin and RTX. AeroVironment outpaced those peers.
U.S. stocks finished mixed overall to start the year, with the Dow up about 0.7% and the S&P 500 up about 0.2%, while the Nasdaq was nearly flat, an Associated Press market recap showed.
A Form 4 filing showed Chief Accounting Officer Brian Charles Shackley sold 200 AeroVironment shares on Dec. 30 at $250.92 under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, a pre-arranged plan that can allow insiders to trade on a set schedule. Form 4 is the required disclosure for insider transactions.
Beyond the macro headlines, investors remain keyed on execution against AeroVironment’s backlog, and on whether margins improve as the year progresses. Backlog is work already under contract but not yet recorded as revenue.
Before Monday’s open, traders are likely to keep one eye on developments around Iran after Trump’s remarks and Tehran’s pushback, a backdrop that has been feeding into defense-sector positioning. AeroVironment’s shares can move quickly when geopolitical risk shifts.
The U.S. data calendar could also drive risk appetite next week, with the monthly jobs report due on Jan. 9 and consumer price inflation data due on Jan. 13, Reuters reported. “The market is looking for direction,” Matthew Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, told Reuters. 3
For AeroVironment, earnings calendars list the next results date as March 3, though such dates can shift before a company confirms them. Investors typically watch bookings, backlog conversion and margin trends most closely against management’s full-year targets. 4
On Friday, the stock traded between $241.65 and $257.89; traders often treat the session low as near-term support and the session high as the next hurdle if momentum carries into the next week.
