U.S. military actions in Venezuela and elsewhere are sending drone stocks flying higher. The brand-new Rex Drone ETF (ticker: DRNZ
), an exchange-traded fund focused on drone stocks that launched in October 2025, is up 25.6% in the past month, advancing 20.5% in the past week as of Jan. 7.
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Here’s a look at some of the most prominent drone stocks available to investors:
| Drone Stocks | Market Capitalization |
| AeroVironment Inc. (AVAV) | $17.7 billion |
| Ondas Holdings Inc. (ONDS) | $5.5 billion |
| Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. (KTOS) | $18.1 billion |
| Rocket Lab Corp. (RKLB) | $44.8 billion |
| Draganfly Inc. (DPRO) | $232 million |
| L3Harris Technologies Inc. (LHX) | $61.6 billion |
| Red Cat Holdings Inc. (RCAT) | $1.4 billion |
AeroVironment Inc. (AVAV)
The Arlington, Virginia-based company has a market capitalization of $17.7 billion. The company has reported triple-digit sales growth in the past two quarters. AeroVironment products include unmanned aerial systems (UAS), tactical missiles and electric vehicle charging solutions.
“What I like about this stock is that it recently pulled back to a major support price area around $230 a share,” says Jason Brown, a stock market analyst at TheBrownReport.com. He notes that the stock has plenty of room to run before reaching its prior price high, just below $420.
Although the company missed earnings views recently, Brown says its 151% year-over-year quarterly revenue growth, to $472.5 million, shows it’s adding contracts quickly. Costs associated with a recent acquisition put a dent in earnings, but analysts expect strong growth this year.
Ondas Holdings Inc. (ONDS)
Ondas develops unmanned aircraft systems as well as secure private wireless networking systems. This is a volatile stock, with a beta of 2.35; it sports some wide price swings, not unusual for a stock with a market capitalization of just $5.5 billion.
The company has notched triple-digit sales growth in the past three quarters, and analysts expect those levels to continue into this year. Ondas shares are trading at new highs after emerging from a nearly three-month consolidation.
As a small company, it doesn’t have a wide following on Wall Street, but among eight analysts on TipRanks’ rating service, the consensus view is “strong buy.”
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. (KTOS)
The Round Rock, Texas, company has shown accelerating sales growth since late 2024. Earnings growth has been more uneven, although Wall Street is eyeing steady increases in the next three quarters.
The stock has returned 219.6% over the past year as of Jan. 7. As the nature of warfare has changed to rely more on relatively inexpensive drones capable of doing significant damage to targets, Kratos has joined the industry-wide rally.
Kratos is a top-performing stock within Cathie Wood’s Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ). This stock is squarely in the growth category, and does not pay a dividend.
Rocket Lab Corp. (RKLB)
Rocket Lab develops spacecraft and systems and provides launch services for government and commercial customers. Although the stock has a market cap of $44.8 billion, it’s especially volatile relative to the broader market, as indicated by its beta of 2.2.
That may be due in part to the company’s heavy debt load, which it’s using to finance growth. Its three-year revenue growth rate is 45%.
“This stock since late 2024 has been a rocket, pun intended,” Brown says. He points out that it’s moved from about $10 in October 2024 to its current price above $80. “What I like about this stock is not just the uptrend in the chart but the diverse segment of customers from commercial, scientific and government,” he says.
He cites the growth potential of the company’s Neutron rocket, destined to carry larger payloads. Its first launch is expected in the first quarter of this year. “This could open up higher revenue streams as well as attract new customers and lend to more upside,” Brown says.
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Draganfly Inc. (DPRO)
Many of the entrants to the drone space are smaller, newer companies. Some, like Rocket Lab, were managed deliberately for robust growth. Draganfly isn’t in the same category, judging by its stock performance. The company makes unmanned aviation software and gear for government, commercial and academic customers.
The Canadian company, which went public in late 2019, has been ramping up its sales growth in the past two years, although the company is still in that zone where startups report losses. If the situation doesn’t turn around, investors may eventually become impatient.
With a market cap of just $232 million and ongoing losses, Draganfly is not yet a favorite of institutions, which look for more stability. It’s a component of the DRNZ ETF, and doesn’t have much research coverage, yet the consensus rating of four analysts on TipRanks is “strong buy.”
L3Harris Technologies Inc. (LHX)
Although this is a much larger company than others with a more narrow focus on drones, L3Harris is small relative to peers in the defense industry, says James Harlow, a chartered financial analyst and director of research at Novare Capital Management in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company has a market cap around $61.6 billion, smaller than companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) and Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC).
“L3Harris is a unique company in the defense space given its smaller size, more nimble positioning, opportunities for margin expansion and its focus on faster-growing areas of the defense budget,” Harlow says.
He says that L3Harris tends to be “platform agnostic.” Instead of building airplanes and ships, it supplies components, mission systems and the “brains” of those platforms. This allows L3Harris flexibility rather than being tied to just a few large programs.
“A key pillar of L3Harris’ financial strategy has been to expand profit margins, which it has been successful in implementing, driven by cost savings initiatives, exiting lower margin businesses, (using) smarter bidding processes and growing internationally,” Harlow says.
The company has increased its dividend for 24 years in a row, and has posted a one-year return of about 55%.
Red Cat Holdings Inc. (RCAT)
This small-cap company specializes in software systems for drones and other robotics products. Its navigation and mapping business provides imaging tools to collect detailed location and mapping data. The company also develops systems that plan and control flight operations, as well as analyze data in real time.
This stock is something of a mixed bag: Sales growth has been ramping up in recent quarters, with that trend expected to continue into this year. Earnings, though, are nonexistent, despite the company being publicly traded since 2017. It launched on the over-the-counter market, but it made its Nasdaq debut in April 2021.
Brown sees pros and cons when it comes to this stock’s potential for investors. He notes that its Nasdaq IPO price was $4; it’s currently trading near $11. “So although the stock is higher than its previous years, the most recent eight quarters show a miss on either earnings per share or revenue and sometimes both,” he says.
“However, if you are looking for a low-priced trade, the stock could move up to resistance of $16, which shows a potential upside of $5 from the current price,” he adds. Three other Wall Street analysts who cover the stock give it a consensus rating of “strong buy” and a price target of $15, representing upside potential around 28%.
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7 Best Drone Stocks to Buy in 2026 originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 01/08/26: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
