Eoin Treacy's view

The evolution of drones have been picking up pace as the size and weight of motors, batteries and cameras decreases. Bestbuy is now selling a variety of camera enabled drones which further exemplifies how ubiquitous the technology is becoming. 

This interview with the CEO of China’s DJI Technology by the Wall Street Journal highlights how quickly the sector is evolving and how quickly the availability of technology is driving further innovation. The FAA’s report this week on the misbehaviour of some drone pilots brings into the focus the need for some form of regulation of the sector.  

Airbus’s proof of concept with the Zephyr is an interesting development and suggests that Facebook and Google’s ambition of bringing the internet to everyone is realisable.  Drones represent another technological innovation that holds the potential to disrupt sectors such as cell towers, postal delivery, crop management and defence. 

Among the largest listed manufacturers there are some clear outperformers:

Lockheed Martin remains in a consistent medium-term uptrend but is somewhat overbought in the very short term. A sustained move below the 200-day MA would be required to question medium-term scope for additional upside. 


Northrup Grumman and Raytheon have similar patterns.

Textron has also rallied impressively from the October lows and some consolidation of recent gains is looking increasingly likely. 

Airbus has rallied back to test the region of the yearlong progression of lower rally highs and a sustained move above €50 will be required to signal a return to demand dominance beyond the short term. 

Boeing is in a similar position. 

Aerovironment remains in what is still a consistent 9-month downtrend.