There's no way around it, November was a horror month for the DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO) share price.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) drone defence company closed on 31 October trading for $3.83. When the closing bell sounded on 28 November, those same shares were changing hands for $1.98 apiece.
This saw the DroneShield share price down a painful 48.3% over the month just past.
For some context, the ASX 200 dropped 3% in November.
Here's what had investors overheat their sell buttons.
Image source: Getty Images
DroneShield share price flies into stiff headwinds
The first few days of November kicked off just fine, with the ASX 200 defence stock announcing a new $25.3 million contract from a privately owned in-country reseller.
"With this new contract, DroneShield continues to position itself as one of the preferred C-UAS systems in Latin America," DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik said on the day.
The DroneShield share price closed up another 1.4% on 10 November after reporting on three new deals with the United States government. The deals to supply handheld counter-drone systems were said to be worth a combined $7.6 million.
But things quickly took a turn for the worse after this, with management having to withdraw the US deal announcement.
"DroneShield advises that the November Contracts do not represent new orders," the company said. "The November Contracts were inadvertently marked as new contracts rather than revised contracts due to an administrative error."
CEO and top brass dump holdings and US leader departs
By far the biggest hit to the DroneShield share price came on 13 November, when the stock closed down a precipitous 31.4%.
That followed news that CEO Oleg Vornik had unloaded 14.81 million shares in the company the previous week, netting him $49.47 million. With several other directors also selling material holdings in the company, investors were quick to follow suit.
But the pain wasn't over for stockholders yet.
On 19 November, the DroneShield share price closed down another 19.6% after the company announced that its United States CEO, Matt McCrann, "has resigned from the business, effective immediately".
The company did not explain why McCrann resigned.
Investors in the ASX 200 defence stock got a little reprieve later in the month, with shares closing up 1.8% on 24 November and up 14.6% on 25 November.
That came after the company released an update dismissing media speculations that the rise of fibre optic drones could threaten its growth plans. Management also used the opportunity to address the various issues plaguing the company in recent weeks.
Despite November's steep fall, the DroneShield share price remains up a benchmark smashing 164.7% in 2025.
