Archer Aviation Is Still Down 43% in 2026: Did ACHR Stock Just Find a Bottom?

Electric air taxi makers have taken some of the biggest stock losses of 2026, and the one with the smallest decline among the three listed developers is now rallying sharply. Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR | ACHR Price Prediction) stock has climbed 8% to $4.25, a bounce that still leaves Archer shares down 43% year to date (YTD).

Meanwhile, Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY) stock is down 62% YTD to $5.03, a far deeper slide than the one Archer is trying to climb out of. EHang Holdings (NASDAQ:EH) stock is down 72% YTD to $3.66, the worst showing of the three.

As a sector gauge, the ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (CBOE:ARKQ) is up 2% YTD. Over the same stretch, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 13% YTD, which puts 2026’s damage directly on the air taxi makers.

Barclays Coverage Sets Archer Apart From Joby

Earlier this month, Barclays assumed coverage of Archer stock with an Overweight rating, a call that signals expected outperformance. Barclays also turned bearish on Joby stock at the same time, drawing a clear analyst line between the two U.S. air taxi developers.

Q2 2026 revenue at Archer reached $5 million, beating expectations, as operations grew at Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles. The company also holds $1.56 billion in liquidity. It has agreed to acquire Wisk Aero, Insitu and SkyGrid in a deal that gives the seller a strategic equity stake, with closing expected by year-end. Insitu alone would add more than $200 million in annual revenue, giving Archer a sizable business outside air taxis.

Three Air Taxi Models, Three Different Risks

Archer is developing its Midnight electric air taxi for commercial certification and has been pushing into defense work alongside that program, with Halo/Thunder, an autonomous hybrid vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platform built with Anduril, supporting that effort alongside ZEE, an AI foundation model designed for aviation. CEO Adam Goldstein called the expanded strategy “an important inflection point for Archer” when the company reported results on August 10.

Interim CFO Priya Gupta spoke on the call. She stated that the plan gives her “the confidence that we can grow the top line across our business while post acquisition close and through integration, keep cash burn relatively flat from where it stands today.” Keeping burn flat would matter for Archer, since its air taxi still needs regulatory approval.

Joby, by contrast, already books revenue through its Blade passenger subsidiary, which drove its latest quarterly beat, a bull case Archer’s air taxi can’t yet match. Skeptics point out that Joby’s own aircraft still awaits FAA certification and Barclays has turned bearish on the stock. EHang already operates commercially in China under a different regulator, so certification news in the U.S. doesn’t carry over to it. Its regulatory picture darkened after a late-June piloted light-sport aircraft accident in China led to a more conservative official stance, and EHang withdrew its full-year 2026 revenue guidance.

Archer’s Certification Path Against Its Year-Long Decline

Arguments against a bottom start with Midnight, which isn’t certified yet, leaving Archer pre-revenue on its core aircraft. Net losses at Archer widened to $263.2 million in Q2 from $217.7 million in Q1 2026. A wider loss combined with uncertain certification timing makes any floor in Archer stock hard to confirm.

Next on Archer’s calendar are flights in the Los Angeles area out of Hawthorne Airport and commercial operations in Texas under the White House’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), both targeted later this year. Goldstein declared on the call, “We are certainly not taking our eye off the prize on Midnight.” Archer remains in the fourth and final phase of the Federal Aviation Administration’s type certification process.

Archer now faces the question of whether Midnight wins commercial certification and the pending acquisitions close on schedule. A speculative name like this works best as a small, rules-based slice of a portfolio, the exact approach we laid out in a free guide (here). Investors weighing their exposure should adjust their holdings carefully given that the rebound in Archer stock has yet to prove it can hold as those milestones approach.

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