Like Joby Aviation? Then You'll Love This eVTOL Growth Stock and ETF.

Key Points

• Joby Aviation continues to make progress toward commencing commercial operations.

• Vertical Aerospace is an eVTOL company offers investors an interesting way to play the market, and it trades on a low market cap, suggesting a favorable risk/reward proposition.

• The Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF continues to rocket higher.

• 10 stocks we like better than Joby Aviation ›

Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) was part of the boom in businesses that went public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in 2021. But unlike many of those names, the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft company has made investors money -- staging an epic recovery after a multiyear downswing. Joby is up a staggering 219.2% in the last year, at the time of this writing.

Investors who are interested in Joby Aviation may also want to consider Vertical Aerospace (NYSE: EVTL), as well as an exchange-traded fund (ETF) -- the Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (NYSEMKT: ARKX). Here's why these two growth stocks and ETF could be worth a closer look now.

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Image source: Getty Images.

Things have heated up this summer for Joby Aviation

Scott Levine (Joby Aviation): While Joby Aviation is still waiting for the final certifications from the FAA to start ferrying passengers back and forth with its electric air taxi service, it doesn't mean the company is sitting idle. Over the past couple of months, Joby has reported some notable news indicating that the company is working hard to hit the ground running when it receives the requisite FAA certification, making it an eVTOL stock that demands to be on the radar of any investor interested in gaining exposure to the nascent industry.

Most recently, Joby notched an aviation industry first when it completed an eVTOL flight between two U.S. public airports: Marina and Monterey, both of which are in California. Management lauded the accomplishment "a major step as part of Joby's commercial market readiness, highlighting key capabilities across safety, operations, air traffic control, and certification progress."

But there are even bigger developments that the upstart eVTOL company reported this summer. For one, Joby announced its plan to acquire the urban air mobility business of Blade Air Mobility. When the transaction closes (presumably in the next few weeks), Joby will gain immediate market access to infrastructure assets, as well as urban corridors in New York City and Southern Europe.

Diversifying beyond the civilian market, Joby announced a partnership with L3Harris to collaborate on developing hybrid eVTOL aircraft suited for defense applications. Should the partnership with L3Harris, a leading defense contractor, bring a defense aircraft to fruition, it will help Joby diversify its revenue base and mitigate the risk associated with the company's air taxi business.

For investors looking to land an eVTOL stock in their portfolios, Joby is a consideration they can't afford to ignore.

An interesting eVTOL stock you probably haven't heard of

Lee Samaha (Vertical Aerospace): As you can see in the chart, the British eVTOL company's market cap is a mere fraction of its U.S. peers' market cap.

EVTL Market Cap data by YCharts

Part of it comes down to Vertical Aerospace's short financial runway. According to CEO Stuart Simpson, "Our cash runway takes us into the middle of 2026 with our cash and cash equivalents as of today, approximately $139 million."

Another part of it is possibly the different regulatory path followed by Vertical Aerospace. The company is seeking certification for its aircraft with the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. After this, it will work on certification with the FAA and other regulators worldwide.

However, the good news is that the current capital position will enable the company to "begin the assembly of our next aircraft, our pre-production or certification aircraft, and continue to expand our certification aircraft supply chain." Vertical recently completed the first public-to-airport eVTOL flight by a commercially planned vehicle. It also has 1,500 preorders in place for its aircraft, including from American Airlines and Japan Airlines.

Vertical Aerospace will require capital to complete its aims, and there are no guarantees it will. Still, it offers an interesting option for investors looking to diversify eVTOL holdings, and potentially more upside due to its low valuation.

Shoot for the stars with this high-octane ETF

Daniel Foelber (Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF): The Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF has been on a tear -- up 36.2% year to date and 78% over the last year. According to Ark Invest's overview of the ETF: "The advisor defines 'Space Exploration' as leading, enabling, or benefiting from technologically enabled products and/or services that occur beyond the surface of the Earth, including autonomous mobility, intelligent devices, advanced battery technologies, 3D printing, reusable rockets, adaptive robotics, and neural networks."

The fund addresses the space theme across industries -- through growth-focused companies as well as legacy industrial companies like L3Harris, Deere, and Komatsu. And like other Ark funds, the ETF is not remotely market-cap-weighted -- meaning that the highest-weighted holdings will be the fund managers' top picks rather than the most valuable companies. The fund's largest holding -- Kratos Defense & Security -- only has a market cap of $11.5 billion compared to $420.3 billion for fifth-place Palantir Technologies.

Vertical take-off and landing plays into the "space theme," with Archer Aviation, Joby Aviation, and Blade Air Mobility combining for 11.2% of the ETF. The ETF has many recognizable names, but also some companies you may have never heard of -- like unmanned aircraft system maker Aerovironment and satellite giant Iridium Communications -- the third- and fourth-largest holdings by weighting. Again, since the fund isn't market-cap weighted, it can put more conviction in these companies and still have small pieces of megacap growth companies. The fund holds Nvidia and Alphabet, but they only make up 2.7% and 1.7% of the fund, respectively.

The Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF sports a relatively high expense ratio at 0.75% -- which is far higher than the expense ratios investors may be used to from passive funds. The key difference is that the Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF is actively managed and very nuanced. The higher expense ratio is the fee for the active management, but it has certainly been worth it, given the fund's epic gains.

All told, the Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF could be a good pick for investors who are interested in "space" outside just eVTOL.

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Daniel Foelber has positions in Nvidia. Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Scott Levine has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AeroVironment, Alphabet, Deere & Company , L3Harris Technologies, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.