Stock Market Today, July 22: Ondas Secures $70 Million in New Orders, Rises 28% Over the Last Week

Ondas (NASDAQ:ONDS), a drone networking and autonomous defense systems provider, closed at $8.00, up 4.44%. Premarket, the company announced $70 million in new orders over the past month, and investors are watching the execution of the order backlog next. Trading volume reached 171.9M shares, coming in about 107% above its three-month average of 82.9M shares. Ondas IPO'd in 2020 and has grown 30% since going public.

How the markets moved today

The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) fell 0.13% to 7,499, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) dropped 0.57% to 25,691. Among aerospace & defense peers in private wireless, drone, and counter-UAS systems, AeroVironment closed at $150.35, up 1.01%, while Red Cat Holdings finished at $7.83, down 8.85%, underscoring uneven sentiment across the group.

What this means for investors

After seeing its stock nearly halve from $12 to $6 since the start of June, drone-focused Ondas has rebounded nicely over the last week, announcing $70 million in new orders over the last four weeks. This figure is attention-grabbing because it shows a sharp rise from $40 million in June and $30 million in May, indicating an acceleration in growth.

Buoyed by this burgeoning order book, a backlog of over $450 million, and $1.4 billion in cash available for use with the company’s serial acquisition strategy, Ondas and its management believe it will generate $525 million in sales in 2026. Compared to the company’s market cap of $4.4 billion, this growth is an interesting story to monitor. That said, Ondas is relying heavily upon shareholder dilution to fund its voracious appetite for M&A -- shares outstanding have doubled over the last year -- so ONDS stock will remain a highly volatile, high-risk, high-reward proposition.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ondas. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.