William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma last night initiated coverage of AeroVironment with an Outperform rating. According to an analysis by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, the U.S. Department of Defense requested $8.9B for unmanned systems in the government's fiscal 2019 budget, DiPalma tells investors in a research note. Annual growth for the U.S. fiscal year drone budget allocation accelerated to 20%, with a 14.7% five-year annual growth rate, adds the analyst. He points out that AeroVironment is the industry leader in small unmanned aerial systems for military users. DiPalma sees the shares trading to a range of $82 to $105 over the next 18 months. He expects defense budget drone spending growth to continue to exceed overall defense budget growth by a wide margin.