New York, May 31, 2026, 11:04 EDT
Archer Aviation Inc. shares head into Monday’s U.S. session with a short-week rally to defend, after closing Friday at $6.81, up 7.1% from the prior Friday’s $6.36 close, in a week shortened by the Memorial Day market holiday. Trading volume on Friday was 56.89 million shares.
The move matters because Archer is in the part of the electric air-taxi cycle where market value is being set less by revenue and more by proof: certification, flight testing, cash runway and whether planned U.S. operations can start in 2026.
Archer said this month it expects U.S. operations to begin this year under the White House’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, known as eIPP, and in preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. eVTOL means electric vertical takeoff and landing, a battery-powered aircraft designed to lift off like a helicopter and fly more like a plane.
The company also said it became the first eVTOL company to close Phase 3 of the Federal Aviation Administration’s four-phase type certification process. Phase 4, Archer said, is where its Midnight aircraft must show compliance with FAA airworthiness rules through formal testing and analysis.
Founder and CEO Adam Goldstein called it “another banner quarter” and said Archer is “far more than an air taxi company,” pointing to defense and aviation software as additional business lines. Archer Aviation
The numbers still show a company deep in build-out mode. Archer’s first-quarter net loss widened to $217.7 million from $93.4 million a year earlier, while research and development expense rose 65.6% to $171.7 million, a filing showed. The company had $951.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and $824.8 million in short-term investments at March 31.
Adjusted EBITDA, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization adjusted for some items, was a loss of $172.5 million in the first quarter. Archer forecast a second-quarter adjusted EBITDA loss of $170 million to $200 million.
Wall Street has not moved in one direction. Canaccord Genuity cut its target on Archer to $12 from $13 while keeping a Buy rating after first-quarter results; MarketBeat listed Austin Moeller as the Canaccord analyst tied to the May 12 action. The same tracker showed eight analysts with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average target of $11.83, above Friday’s close. Investing.com Canada
Competitive pressure is close. Joby Aviation has also been selected for U.S. operations under the White House-backed air-taxi program, covering 10 states, and said its first FAA-conforming aircraft for type inspection authorization was set to fly shortly. Eve Holding, backed by Embraer, remains in development and said in early May that it did not expect meaningful revenue during the aircraft development phase.
But the downside case is plain enough. Any delay in certification, higher-than-planned spending, slower infrastructure build-out or another capital raise could pressure the shares. Archer itself warned in its quarterly filing that there is no assurance it will achieve its business plans, that current capital will be enough, or that financing will be available on acceptable terms.
For the week ahead, the stock’s test is whether investors treat the FAA milestone as a de-risking event or focus again on cash burn. There is no large confirmed company event on the calendar in the next few sessions; that leaves the shares exposed to sentiment, analyst notes and any update on certification or early U.S. routes.
The near-term trade is therefore less about whether air taxis are a big market. It is about whether Archer can keep turning milestones into a timetable investors believe.
