Prediction: Buying Joby Aviation Today Could Set You Up for Life

A stock that sets you up for life usually asks you to take a chance, a big chance, one with high risks if its main business fails, but high reward if it succeeds. Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) could be one of these stocks. Here's why.

Joby is building a business before takeoff

The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) maker wants to launch an air taxi service that carries passengers over heavy traffic. Anyone who has slogged through congested city streets -- say, in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, or Chicago -- can understand Joby's appeal. Still, the bull case for Joby stock requires some imagination, as the company's eVTOL lacks regulatory approval to fly commercially and does not yet have a large enough fleet to serve the areas where it wants to fly.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

The lack of FAA type certification, which Joby needs to move forward, might be obscuring how far Joby has actually come in building its business. Indeed, many, if not most, investors may not realize how many pieces Joby has assembled to build a platform ready to welcome passengers when the FAA finally gives the green light.

We can start with Blade Air Mobility, whose passenger business Joby acquired in August 2025. Blade, which lets you book helicopter trips through an app, gave Joby access to existing routes, along with ready-made terminals and lounges in busy markets. The business itself has been growing -- seats booked in the second quarter increased more than 50% year over year -- but the experience and data could be just as valuable. Joby can start measuring where people want to fly, when they want to leave, and how much they're willing to pay. This could help Joby make some big decisions about putting its first commercial eVTOLs to work.

Then, there's the August partnership with Atoms. Joby has wisely teamed up with this infrastructure company to develop vertiports in Florida, New York, and Texas. These locations aren't random: They were selected under the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) as markets where Joby can prepare for early operations. Additionally, the two companies plan to develop vertiports in California, which wasn't among Joby's initial eIPP markets but is obviously important to Joby's long-term plans.

Finally, we have to mention Joby's longtime partnership with Toyota (NYSE: TM). Not only has Toyota committed about $894 million to Joby, but it has also formed a joint venture with it to prepare Joby for commercial production. That might sound like a "soft" advantage, but progress might be showing up concretely on the factory floor: Joby's manufacturing nonconformance rate fell nearly 40% in the first half of 2026. That essentially means production is meeting specifications more often, which, in turn, reduces the need for rework.

Of course, without a profitable eVTOL service, Joby will be a risky, speculative stock over the near term. In short, Joby needs its investors to provide a lot of time -- five to 10 years seems realistic -- before it might deliver the growth expected of it. I would not recommend this stock if your time horizon is short. But if you can give Joby time to grow, the rewards could make the wait worthwhile.

Steven Porrello has positions in Joby Aviation. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.