JOBY Saudi Arabia Bound: Is the Growth Thesis Strengthening?

Joby Aviation JOBY, a developer of electric air taxis for commercial passenger use, announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Red Sea Global (“RSG”) and The Helicopter Company (“THC”). The agreement includes plans for Joby to conduct pre-commercial evaluation flights of its electric air taxi in Saudi Arabia during the first half of 2026.

Under the partnership, Joby will collaborate with RSG — the developer of the Red Sea and AMAALA regenerative tourism destinations — and THC, a Public Investment Fund company and Saudi Arabia’s leading commercial helicopter operator, to set up a “sandbox” for pre-commercial testing. This environment will support the assessment of future air taxi operations in the region, with Joby conducting representative flights that incorporate charging operations, airspace integration and ground communications, similar to the demonstrations completed earlier in the UAE.

This new collaboration follows Joby’s recent announcement that it will work with the General Authority of Civil Aviation to help develop Saudi Arabia’s air taxi regulatory framework, utilizing Federal Aviation Administration certification standards.

Joby is also expanding its presence across the Middle East and Central Asia. In September, the company announced a long-term agreement with the Ras Al Khaimah Transport Authority and Skyports Infrastructure to establish a passenger air taxi network in Ras Al Khaimah by 2027. Joby also plans to begin air taxi operations in Dubai in 2026 under a six-year exclusive arrangement. Additionally, in November, the company signed a letter of intent to supply aircraft and services worth up to $250 million to Alatau Advance Air Group, which aims to deploy air taxis in Kazakhstan.

Last month, Joby inked a groundbreaking collaboration with NVIDIA NVDA to become the exclusive aviation launch partner for the newly introduced NVIDIA IGX Thor platform. Built on the powerful NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, this industrial-grade system is designed to drive the next generation of physical AI applications. The partnership with a powerhouse like NVIDIA will accelerate the development of Joby’s Superpilot autonomous flight technology across defense and commercial platforms.

Joby’s Price, Valuation & Earnings Estimates

Shares of Joby have gained in triple digits over the past six months, just outperforming the Zacks Transportation - Airline industry and its rival Archer Aviation ACHR, in the electric vertical takeoff and landing space.

6-Month Price Comparison

From a valuation perspective, Joby is trading at a premium compared with Archer Aviation. However, both Joby and Archer Aviation have a Value Score of F.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for JOBY’s third-quarter, fourth-quarter, full-year 2025 and 2026 losses have widened over the past 60 days.

JOBY’s Zacks Rank

JOBY currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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