Drone maker AEVEX’s shares jumped 15% in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, signaling growing investor appetite for defense-linked businesses as governments ramp up military spending amid persisting geopolitical tensions. Shares of the private equity-backed firm opened at $23.01 apiece, higher than the offer price of $20, giving it a valuation of $2.57 billion.
The Solana Beach, California-based company sold 16 million shares to raise $320 million in its U.S. initial public offering on Thursday. AEVEX provides airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance offerings to the U.S. government and its allied forces.
AEVEX has two operating segments: tactical systems, which builds autonomous defense technologies and contributes about 75% of its total revenue, and global solutions that provides aircraft modification and engineering support across manned and unmanned platforms. The U.S. government accounted for 78% of AEVEX’s revenue in 2025.
