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 $6.7B against $4.7B — 1.4× the size. AeroVironment, Inc. has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; VSE Corporation trades at 51.2×. 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 51.16 31.91
P/S 3.16 3.67 3.62
P/B 1.44 1.70 2.59
Price to free cash flow n/m n/m 31.60
EV/EBITDA 29.16 32.00 17.80
EV/Sales 3.24 4.31 3.56
Earnings yield (3.21%) 1.95% 1.33%
Free cash flow yield (0.73%) (0.02%) 0.18%

Profitability

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Gross margin 26.47% 15.62% 25.48%
Operating margin (12.61%) 9.15% 4.54%
Net margin (10.13%) 5.53% 2.22%
Free cash flow margin (2.24%) (0.08%) 0.00%
Return on equity (4.60%) 3.84% 6.03%
Return on assets (3.57%) 2.50% 2.70%
Return on invested capital (3.47%) 2.04% 1.56%

Growth

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Revenue growth (TTM) 84.44% 41.55% 18.43%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (448.39%) 24.14% 24.27%
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 0.24
Current ratio 4.26 3.77 2.72
Net debt to EBITDA 0.47 1.71 1.12

Dividend

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Dividend yield — 0.31% 0.92%
Payout ratio — 0.16 0.33

Size

Metric AVAV VSEC Aerospace & Defense median
Market cap 6.68b 4.70b 2.23b

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