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If you have not yet bought a drone, you've probably seen some forms of it flying in a park or even on the news striking military targets. So let's face it, drone is one of the latest and hottest gadget on planet earth. And with its market expected to hit 3 million unit in 2017 based on research by Gartner, we as investors should really look at where to profit from this hot trend.


Based on article by MarketWatch, one company that makes drones and is publicly traded is AeroVironment (AVAV), the $600 million market cap company, earns almost 90% of its revenue from selling drones, making it the pure play of investing in drones.

Beside drones maker, companies that benefit from boom in drones include video chipset supplier Ambarella (AMBA) and efficient power controllers manufacturer IXYS (IXYS). In addition, Swiss tech company STMicroelectronics NV (STM) and InvenSense (INVN) makes chips for drones.

Miliary use drones producers include Northrop Grumman(NOC) which makes Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles for military operations. Another defence company Lockheed Martin (LMT) also produce drones for bot military as well as civil usage.