DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO) shares – and the company's stockholders – have been on quite a ride in 2025.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) drone defence company closed up 4.7% on Tuesday, trading for $3.14 apiece.
Now, here's why I say that the stock's been on 'quite a ride'.
At yesterday's closing price, DroneShield shares have gained a whopping 318.7% year to date.
Shares hit an all-time closing high of $6.60 on 9 October.
Following a number of events that shook investor confidence (which we'll touch on below), shares then tumbled all the way down to $1.72 by market close on 21 November, putting the stock down 73.9% in just six weeks.
But we're not done yet.
As divulged by the headline, the ASX 200 stock has been on a tear since 21 November, with shares now up a blistering 82.6% in just over one month.
Which brings us back to the topic at hand.
Following this outsized and rapid rebound, is it too late to buy DroneShield stock today?
DroneShield shares: Buy, hold or sell?
Bell Potter Securities' Christopher Watt recently analysed the outlook for ASX defence stock (courtesy of The Bull).
"The company provides artificial intelligence-based platforms for protection against advanced threats, such as drones and autonomous systems," Watt explained.
"It recently secured another major international contract and boasts a growing sales pipeline in excess of $2.5 billion," he said, explaining part of the big rebound we've witnessed this past month.
But Watt isn't quite ready to hit the buy button on the stock just yet.
Commenting on his hold recommendation on DroneShield shares, he said:
However, while the business fundamentals are sound, investor sentiment has been clouded by governance concerns, including recent DRO share sales by directors and scrutiny over disclosure practices.
These issues may create short term headwinds, but we believe the company remains structurally well positioned in the fast-evolving counter drone and electronic warfare space.
What happened with the director sales and disclosure issues?
A lot of the selling pressure impacting DroneShield shares came following news that a number of high-level executives, including CEO Oleg Vornik, had sold a large portion of shares.
Between 6 November and 12 November, Vornik sold 14.81 million shares, earning him $49.47 million.
On 13 November, when the company reported those sales, the ASX defence stock closed down 31.4%.
Investors were also rattled in November after DroneShield reported that, following an administrative error, a contract it had reported to the market as new was in fact a revised existing contract.
