Is AeroVironment (AVAV) the Best ChatGPT Advised Defense Stock to Buy Now?

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) is among the top 8 defense stocks based on ChatGPT’s advice. On October 23, BofA lifted its price target for the stock to $450 from $300, while maintaining a Buy rating for its shares.

The adjustment followed the firm’s meeting with both the management and customers at the 2025 AUSA conference, where the company unveiled Switchblade 400, a new loitering munition, which is attracting interest from customers worldwide. It was put on display alongside new variants of existing drones, including the Switchblade 300 Block 20 and the Switchblade 600 Block 2.

Separately, a report in the defense magazine, Janes, on October 13 said that AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) submitted the new munition in response to a request for proposal (RFP) by the U.S. Army for an unmanned anti-tank weapon for its Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) program.

According to TheFly, BofA also visited the company’s Space, Cyber, and Directed Energy facility recently. The firm has reassured an earlier positive assessment of the BlueHalo acquisition, stated that the price target increase was based on higher growth and a stronger multiple.

Earlier in the month, on October 7, Canaccord Genuity also raised AeroVironment, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AVAV) price target to $430 from $305 and kept a Buy rating for its shares. The revision came after the firm attended the company’s Investor Open House, where the management estimated $75 billion in total addressable market (TAM) by FY 2030 across its product catalog.

Overall, Wall Street analysts have a consensus Buy rating for the stock and a one-year average share price target of $409, representing a 7% upside potential from the close on October 29.

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) designs and manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles, ground robot systems, and loitering munition systems.

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Disclosure: None.