By Kit Norton
Shares of Ondas surged Thursday after the autonomous drone play, and Palantir partner, reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue and raised its full-year outlook on the strength of its backlog growing 569% since the end of 2025.
The West Palm Beach, Fla.,-based provider of artificial intelligence-powered autonomous drone systems posted first-quarter revenue of $50.1 million, increasing 1,065% compared to a year ago and well above Wall Street's call for $39.4 million.
Ondas is still far away from turning a profit and reported an adjusted Ebitda loss of $10.9 million compared to loss of $7.5 million a year ago, as operating expenses surged 470% to $67.3 million due to several acquisitions. Analysts expected an adjusted Ebitda loss of $19.6 million, according to FactSet.
The company's soaring revenue was due to a strong performance across Ondas' business portfolio, particularly with its counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
Ondas stock rose 11% to $9.83 on Thursday after ending Wednesday down 2% to $8.86. Shares tend to be volatile and entered Thursday's opening bell down 9.2% so far this year. Palantir gained 0.3%.
Among other defense plays, the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense exchange-traded fund edged up 0.4%. Drone technology company AeroVironment advanced 2.2%. Separately, defense IPO Karman Holdings gained 3.7%. Karman reported late Tuesday a surge in first-quarter revenue and raised its full-year guidance.
Looking ahead, Ondas hiked its full-year revenue guidance to $390 million, up from its previous $375 million target. The new sales target would represent $670% growth compared to 2025. Analyst consensus called for full-year revenue totaling $379.1 million. The company said the decision to raise its 2026 revenue view is based on a backlog of $457 million, up 569% from $68.3 million at the end of 2025.
Ondas also expects adjusted Ebitda losses to remain elevated in the second quarter. However, the company said the second quarter loss is "expected to represent the likely peak" with improvements "throughout the year driven by increased revenues and gross profits and operational scale."
On March 11, Ondas and Palantir announced a strategic partnership to integrate Palantir's foundry product into Ondas' autonomous drone platforms worldwide. Ondas also broadly expects revenue growth to be driven by its autonomous systems.
"We believe Ondas is well positioned for the remainder of 2026 and beyond," CEO Eric Brock said in the earnings release.
"Recent global developments continue to underscore the urgency driving accelerated adoption of our solutions, reinforcing our long-term thesis and validating the strategic actions we have taken to position the company for a multi-decade growth cycle," Brock added.
Write to Kit Norton at kit.norton@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 14, 2026 09:45 ET (13:45 GMT)
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