Raymond James upgrades AeroVironment after share underperformance

Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale upgraded AeroVironment (AVAV) to Market Perform from Underperform without a price target The firm cites valuation for the upgrade following the stock’s 35% decline since March 2. In addition, the company’s fiscal Q3 report brought “materially negative” Street estimate revisions, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Raymond James believes AeroVironment’s multiple compression, negative estimate revisions, and share underperformance create a balanced risk/reward. The firm believes the company continues to face competitive challenges cross most of its product lines while the transition of Blue Halo development work to higher production runs is taking longer to materialize.