In the field of modern aviation, there’s an industry that could be poised for hyper-growth. It’s called eVOTL, or electric vertical takeoff and landing, though you might know it as flying cars or air taxis.
Two eVOTL leaders trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) are Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY) and Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR). There’s a lot of money to be made here as the air taxi market is anticipated to grow from $1.32 billion in 2024 to $7.74 billion by 2033.
You might assume that Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation are basically the same, but think again. One of these two stocks has soared in 2025 while the other tumbled to the ground. With all of that in mind, it’s time to decide whether JOBY stock or ACHR stock is the best eVOTL pick right now.
A Tale of Two Trajectories
To start off, we have to address the elephant in the room. As of the premarket hours of September 12, 2025, Joby Aviation stock had gained 68.27% year to date:
Meanwhile, during the same time span, Archer Aviation stock declined 12.92%:
Thus, JOBY stock and ACHR stock have been on two completely different trajectories lately. Sometimes, in cases like this, a contrarian or value investor can safely assume that the low-flying stock must be a better bargain than the high-flying stock.
That’s not so obvious in this scenario, however. Neither Joby Aviation nor Archer Aviation has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio since neither company is profitable. So, we can’t just declare a winner based on P/E ratios.
Maybe we can dig deeper into both of these eVOTL businesses’ recent financials and achieve some clarity. The second-quarter 2025 press releases of Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation only reveal part of the fiscal picture, to be honest; however, we can turn to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings for fuller financial disclosures.
The Big Spend: eVOTL Edition
You’ve got to spend money now in order to make money later. Or at least, this seems to be the financial philosophy of Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation in the mid-2020s.
In its Q2 2025 Form 10-Q filing, Archer Aviation admitted, “No revenues were recognized during the three and six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024.” Therefore, it’s not misleading to call Archer a pre-revenue company.
Technically speaking, Joby Aviation isn’t pre-revenue. During the six months ended June 30, 2025, Joby generated a total of $15,000 in revenue.
In case you’re wondering, that $15,000 came from “flight services.” This consists of payments for Joby Aviation’s “performance of customer-directed flights and on-base operations for various DOD [Department of Defense] agencies.”
In any case, the revenue comparison is a wash as Joby’s recent revenues are negligible and Archer’s are nonexistent. Next, we’ll check out the capital runways of the two air taxi companies.
Both businesses recently spent vast amounts of money to build up their operational capacities. That’s understandable as long as the companies still have sufficient capital to continue their operations into the foreseeable future.
Here’s the lowdown on that. As of June 30, 2025, Joby Aviation had cash and cash equivalents totaling $336.313 million. That’s a marked improvement over the $199.627 million that Joby had as of December 31, 2024.
However, during that same time frame, Archer Aviation grew its cash and cash equivalents position from $834.5 million to $1.724 billion. It’s interesting, then, that traders recently favored JOBY stock over ACHR stock despite Archer Aviation’s evidently superior capital position.
Both Have Bragging Rights
Pivoting from financial facts to operational achievements, the Q2 2025 reports of both eVOTL companies list major milestones. In early 2025, Joby Aviation prepared an aircraft for Type Inspection Authorization flight testing, made headway in a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification program and a Dubai flight testing program, and expanded its Marina, California manufacturing site, among other achievements.
As for Archer Aviation, the company put six Midnight aircraft into production, commenced a launch program in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), accelerated its defense program with two strategic acquisitions, and garnered recognition as the as the Official Air Taxi Provider of the LA28 Olympic Games. Can we definitively conclude that one flying car firm is doing “better” than the other in 2025?
That’s a tough call. Maybe the right conclusion is that sometimes the market just picks a favorite stock for a while and logic has little to do with it.
After all, there’s been a meme stock revival this year and the short squeeze mob isn’t always concerned with fundamentals. A more sensible overview, however, would take note of Archer Aviation’s strong capital position and downtrodden share price.
JOBY vs. ACHR: Buy One, Watch the Other
When all is said and done, there could be a prime setup for a mean reversion trade here. Barring any unforeseen events, ACHR stock has the potential to catch up to JOBY stock.
It’s a speculative bet, but then, everything about the air taxi industry is speculative. I wouldn’t go all in on this investment idea, but if I had to pick one eVOTL stock over the other, I’d choose Archer Aviation stock for a catch-up trade while keeping tabs on Joby Aviation stock because it has undeniable momentum.
