Drone maker AeroVironment sputters as defense spending dries up

By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times

At the height of the wars in the Middle East, AeroVironment Inc. — a drone maker based in Monrovia — soared into the public limelight.

In the last decade, AeroVironment became the Pentagon’s top supplier of small drones. Its financial balance sheet prospered, its drones delivered results and its technology landed on the cover of Time magazine as one of the year’s best inventions in 2011.

But these days, not so much.

Over the last month the company’s shares have plummeted more than 18% as federal spending begins to dry up and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come to an end. It lowered its revenue guidance by nearly one-third, to $230 million to $250 million from $348 million to $370 million.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/04/business/la-fi-0404-aerovironment-troubles-20130404