In the latest trading session, AeroVironment (AVAV) closed at $164.66, marking a +1.57% move from the previous day. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.12%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.52%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.23%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of unmanned aircrafts had lost 3.96% over the past month. This has lagged the Aerospace sector's loss of 1.36% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.45% in that time.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of AeroVironment in its upcoming release. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.58, marking a 7.94% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $189.25 million, indicating a 1.43% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.38 per share and a revenue of $811.08 million, representing changes of +13.04% and +13.17%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for AeroVironment. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. AeroVironment is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, AeroVironment is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 47.91. This denotes a premium relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 29.9.

The Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry is part of the Aerospace sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 62, placing it within the top 25% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.

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