Applied Aerospace shares offer upside as SpaceX, Anduril ties support growth

Traders Union
All News
Financial News
Applied Aerospace growth outlook

Highlights

Applied Aerospace shares dropped since the June 3 IPO after a $154 million Q2 loss, driven mainly by nonrecurring IPO-related charges, not core business weakness.
Adjusted EBITDA hit a record $36.4 million, up 38.5% year over year on 47.4% higher revenue, with major growth drivers from SpaceX and Anduril programs supporting recurring sales.
The $1.13 billion backlog, 40% structural excess capacity, and reduced leverage to 2.5x EBITDA post-IPO position Applied Aerospace for output growth despite rising unbilled receivables at 34% of sales.

IPO reset and operating momentum

As reported by CNBC, Applied Aerospace shares have fallen sharply since the company’s June 3 market debut after a reported second-quarter loss of $154 million, but much of that decline stems from nonrecurring, noncash IPO-related charges rather than deterioration in the core business.

Excluding those items, the company posts record adjusted EBITDA of $36.4 million, up 38.5% year over year, while revenue rises 47.4%. The Huntsville, Alabama-based manufacturer says 87% of its revenue comes from sole-source products, while roughly one-third is tied to aftermarket and sustainment programs that can support recurring sales over long service lives.

Applied Aerospace is built from legacy aerospace manufacturing assets, including Applied Aerospace Structures and PCX Aerosystems, and now operates 11 facilities across six U.S. states. Its products span space and launch systems, defense aviation and airborne systems, and C5ISR and precision strike platforms, supplying parts such as propellant tanks, engine nozzles, missile bodies, radomes and aircraft structures.

Defense and space exposure drive outlook

Its relationships with Anduril Industries and SpaceX are central to the growth case because both programs could generate sustained demand for specialized hardware. Applied Aerospace has partnered on Anduril’s Fury collaborative combat aircraft since the second quarter of 2025, according to a Baird research report cited in the source text, and supplies major structural components including wings, fuselage elements and landing gear assemblies.

The U.S. Air Force is moving its collaborative combat aircraft effort from prototypes toward production, with plans to procure more than 150 aircraft by fiscal year 2031. Applied Aerospace also supplies payload deployment structures and landing gear components for SpaceX’s Falcon 9, including crush pods that must be replaced after each launch, creating a potential repeat-volume revenue stream as launch cadence increases.

The company says it has about 40% structural excess capacity, allowing output growth without immediate major factory expansion, while its contracted backlog stands at $1.13 billion. After the IPO, leverage falls to 2.5 times adjusted EBITDA from a debt-heavy pre-listing structure, although investors are still watching unbilled receivables, which rise to 34% of trailing 12-month sales and could delay cash collection near term.

At Thursday’s close of $11.69, Applied Aerospace has a market capitalization of more than $2.07 billion and trades at about 16 times estimated 2026 EBITDA, the text says. That compares with peer valuations for companies such as TransDigm and HEICO, even though Applied Aerospace is described as growing faster, supporting the view that the post-IPO selloff may not reflect its longer-term earnings potential.

Our earlier article on TransDigm’s aftermarket-driven aerospace demand explained how airlines keeping older aircraft in service longer is supporting recurring replacement-part sales across commercial and military platforms. We noted that, with new aircraft deliveries still constrained, higher maintenance intensity and safety-critical component needs have helped underpin TransDigm’s sales mix and earnings momentum.

This material may contain third-party opinions, none of the data and information on this webpage constitutes investment advice according to our Disclaimer. While we adhere to strict Editorial Integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners.