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Defense technology stocks are having a strong run in 2026, and the latest example just showed up on the NYSE.
**AEVEX Aerospace (NYSE: AVEX)** priced its IPO at $20 per share on April 16. The stock opened at $23 on its first day of trading and has since climbed to around $30 — a gain of roughly 51% from the offering price in less than two weeks.
It's the latest in a string of recent defense and drone IPOs that have outperformed the market this year.
Swarmer soared 195% from its $5 IPO price. Karman Space is up 140% after its NYSE debut last year. AVEX is a fundamentally different type of company than either of those — but the market is responding the same way: with strong buying interest from investors who recognize the tailwinds behind defense spending.
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AEVEX is a San Diego-based defense contractor that builds autonomous combat drones for the U.S. military. They've delivered over 10,000 systems to operational environments — including Ukraine — and generated $433 million in revenue in 2025. Funded backlog entering 2026 stood at $503 million.
Their flagship contracts tell the story.
· The Phoenix Ghost program — 4,400 drone systems across seven unmanned aircraft designs — was delivered with some units moving from initial order to warfighter hands in as few as nine days.
· The follow-on EUCOM AOR Deep Strike contract is worth $645 million with 4,800 more planned deliveries. Both were awarded sole-source, meaning no competitive bids. The Pentagon went straight to AEVEX.
· AEVEX also beat out Raytheon and Anduril to win the U.S. Army's Launched Effects Short Range program with its Atlas drone — a small autonomous system that fires from a Humvee or helicopter.
The broader backdrop is working in AVEX's favor.
**The 2026 Department of Defense budget requests $4.1 billion for unmanned aerial systems — up 215% from 2025.**
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the U.S.-Iran situation, and NATO expansion are all accelerating demand for exactly what AEVEX builds. Defense budgets aren't shrinking. They're growing at a pace the sector hasn't seen in decades.
IPO Watch covered AVEX before it started trading, noting that the stock could see strong gains even without the kind of speculative pop that drove Swarmer's debut. Investors who purchased shares after the IPO have had a chance at over 50% gains.
The valuation still looks attractive.
With a $3.6 billion market cap, AVEX trades at approximately 4.5x forward sales. That’s the same multiple as AeroVironment, a peer growing at less than half AEVEX's pace. Kratos, another direct comparable, trades at 7.8x forward. Private peer Shield AI last raised at 24x forward sales.
**My estimates suggest that AEVEX shares could be valued at $55 - $60 – a double from the recent price.**
Wall Street analysts haven't initiated coverage yet — the 25-day quiet period following the April 16 IPO runs until around May 11. That means institutional research on this stock hasn't even started circulating. When it does, the valuation gap should be harder to ignore.
Q1 earnings are expected in roughly six weeks. Preliminary revenue came in at $200–$208 million for the quarter — up 283% year over year. That number, paired with analyst initiations, is the next catalyst to watch.
Defense tech as a sector is seeing renewed investor interest right now. AVEX looks like one of the better-positioned new names in that space. I’m personally buying the stock in the low $30s.
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Ian Wyatt
Editor, IPO Watch
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