Is Joby Aviation the Best Growth Stock in the Industrial Sector?

Industrial stocks were, once again, top performers in the first half of 2026. Indeed, the Fidelity MSCI Industrials Index ETF (NYSEMKT: FIDU), which tracks companies of all sizes in the materials sector, posted a double-digit return in the first six months of the year. The only sector index in Fidelity's lineup that performed better was the Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF (NYSEMKT: FTEC).

Of course, the gains in both indexes have a common tailwind: artificial intelligence (AI). Data centers need the kind of hardware and infrastructure that industrial companies produce.

But not every compelling industrial growth stock is tied to the AI theme. Indeed, growth stock Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) is pursuing something entirely different: the creation of a potentially enormous new transportation industry.

Image source: Joby Aviation.

Few industrial stocks have Joby's potential runway

Picture a world in which you don't have to sit in traffic, a world in which you can soar above congested city streets and reach your destination in a fraction of the time it would take to crawl there by car.

That's the kind of world Joby Aviation is trying to make. It's doing it with an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft -- an all-electric aircraft designed to take off vertically like a helicopter and fly forward like a plane. These "flying taxis," as they're often called, can seat four people (plus a pilot) and cover up to 100 miles on a single charge.

It could represent one of the most radical changes in urban transportation since the automobile remade the modern city. That is, if Joby can get its aircraft certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

On that front, however, Joby is making notable progress. As of July 31, it had completed 20% of its work in Stage 5, the fifth and final "Show & Verify" stage of the FAA's type-certification process, while the FAA had completed about 10% of its work. For context, Joby was roughly two-thirds of the way through Stage 4 at this time last year. That's significant progress in 12 months.

Indeed, with FAA certification getting closer and eVTOL manufacturing ramping up, Joby is starting to look like a different business. There's more substance to it than appearance. In August 2026, Joby announced it was acquiring Resonant Sciences, a fast-growing defense technology company with more than $100 million in trailing 12-month revenue. That deal would put a growing defense business alongside its air taxi ambitions, which makes Joby less dependent on a single path to growth.

Data by YCharts

For all the excitement of this acquisition, Joby's biggest opportunity remains with air taxis. Indeed, analysts at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) once estimated that urban air mobility could become a $9 trillion market opportunity by 2050, with human transportation accounting for roughly $3.8 trillion of that total. In their view, flying cars could generate 18 times the profit of a ride-hauling vehicle, largely thanks to their ability to complete more trips per day and travel more miles per trip.

Joby trades at roughly 62 times sales, which leaves its valuation little room for slip-ups or surprise delays. Still, if the air taxi industry becomes even a fraction as large as Morgan Stanley once predicted, Joby's current valuation could eventually look small. This industrial stock comes with plenty of risks, but for growth investors, I think it's one of the more compelling speculative stocks in the industry.

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.