Aerovironment 1st Qtr Low

Aerovironment posted poorer than expected first quarter 2013 results but claimed that the full year will be up to their advice. I am not concerned, their order book grows and they are poised to break out of their military UAV background into global commercial sales.

AeroVironment, Inc. Announces Fiscal 2013 First Quarter Results
MONROVIA, Calif. --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) today reported financial results for its first quarter ending July 28, 2012 .

"Fiscal 2013 is unfolding consistent with our range of expectations for the year. We anticipated a typically low revenue first quarter would produce a net loss because we are staffed and investing to achieve the growth we expect in the second half of this year and beyond," said AeroVironment chairman and chief executive officer Tim Conver . "First quarter revenue of $58.7 million was about $3 million less than we expected, attributable to contract timing, and produced a loss per share of $0.06 . Our funded backlog increased 6% during the quarter and as of now we have visibility into almost 70% of our expected full year revenue, a good indicator of full year performance in a volatile business environment.

"We are focusing bid and proposal and research and development investments on multiple adjacent market and new development initiatives where we continue to receive positive customer feedback on the probability of successfully capturing long-term growth opportunities. At the same time, we are managing other costs in the business to achieve our financial plan for the fiscal year," Conver added.

FISCAL 2013 FIRST QUARTER RESULTS

Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 was $58 .7 million, down 5% from first quarter fiscal 2012 revenue of $62 .0 million. The decrease in revenue resulted from decreased sales in our Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) segment of $3 .4 million offset by increased sales in our Efficient Energy Systems (EES) segment of $0.1 million .

Loss from operations for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 was $2 .3 million, as compared to income from operations for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 of $0 .4 million. The loss from operations resulted from lower gross margin of $2.2 million and higher research and development (R&D) expense of $0.6 million offset by lower selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expense of $0.1 million .

Net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 was $1 .4 million, as compared to net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 of $0 .3 million.

Loss per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 was $0.06 , as compared to earnings per diluted share for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 of $0.01 .

BACKLOG

As of July 28, 2012 , funded backlog (unfilled firm orders for which funding is currently appropriated to us under a customer contract) was $98.4 million compared to $93 .2 million as of April 30, 2012.