AeroVironment, Inc. (AVAV) vs VSE Corporation (VSEC)

AeroVironment, Inc. and VSE Corporation are both Aerospace & Defense companies. AeroVironment, Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $5.2B against $4.6B — 1.1× the size. AeroVironment, Inc. has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; VSE Corporation trades at 60.0×. AeroVironment, Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 84.4% against 41.6%. VSE Corporation has the higher net margin (5.53% vs −10.1%) and the higher return on invested capital (2.04% vs −3.47%). Across the 19 metrics below, AeroVironment, Inc. leads on 10 and VSE Corporation on 9.

Valuation

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
P/E n/m 59.96 28.48
P/S 2.55 3.78 2.95
P/B 1.16 1.75 2.68
Price to free cash flow n/m n/m 31.70
EV/EBITDA 23.69 32.83 16.85
EV/Sales 2.63 4.43 2.74
Earnings yield (3.97%) 1.67% 0.89%
Free cash flow yield (0.90%) (0.02%) 0.00%

Profitability

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Gross margin 26.47% 15.62% 26.41%
Operating margin (12.61%) 9.15% 3.69%
Net margin (10.13%) 5.53% 2.74%
Free cash flow margin (2.24%) (0.08%) 0.00%
Return on equity (4.60%) 3.84% 4.44%
Return on assets (3.57%) 2.50% 1.90%
Return on invested capital (3.47%) 2.04% 0.26%

Growth

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Revenue growth (TTM) 84.44% 41.55% 18.03%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (448.39%) (35.29%) 24.80%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 38.00% 10.95% 9.73%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Health

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Debt to equity 0.17 0.32 0.20
Current ratio 4.26 3.77 2.85
Net debt to EBITDA 0.47 1.71 1.29

Dividend

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Dividend yield — 0.24% 0.91%
Payout ratio — 0.15 0.30

Size

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Market cap 5.19b 4.62b 1.78b

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