Three of the most-argued-about stocks on the market reported within days of each other this week, and the quantum computing trade got a proper reality check. IonQ, Rigetti and D-Wave all put out Q2 2026 numbers, and the spread between them is enormous. One is scaling like a real business, one is tiny but growing fast, and one booked a fortune in orders while its revenue line sat on its hands.
IonQ: the big one keeps beating
IonQ posted revenue of $80.1 million, up a startling 287% year over year and its fifth consecutive record quarter. The loss narrowed to $0.33 a share against expectations of a $0.54 loss, a clean double beat. Management raised full-year 2026 guidance to a range of $280 million to $290 million, up from $260 million to $270 million.
The strategic move underneath the numbers is the closed $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater, which gives IonQ its own onshore chip design, fabrication and packaging. Owning the whole stack is expensive and unglamorous, and it is also how you stop being at the mercy of everyone else’s supply chain. Shares wobbled around the $40 mark on the print before finding their feet.
Rigetti: small revenue, fortress balance sheet
Rigetti brought in $5.1 million, up 183% year over year, mostly on the back of lumpy on-premises Novera system sales. The operating loss was $28.1 million, so this is still very much a company spending far more than it earns. The saving grace is the balance sheet: roughly $541 million in cash and investments and no debt, which buys a lot of runway to keep burning while the technology matures.
Rigetti also flagged a U.S. Department of Commerce letter of intent for up to $100 million in potential CHIPS Act funding tied to an equity stake, plus a nine-qubit system delivered to the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center with HPE. Small revenue, real government interest.
D-Wave: the split personality
D-Wave is the strange one. Quarterly revenue was about $3.1 million and essentially flat, which the market did not love. But bookings, the orders that turn into future revenue, surged more than 1,120% in the first half to $35.5 million, anchored by a $20 million annealing system sale to Florida Atlantic University. Shares dropped anyway, because a flat income statement today outshouts a booming order book for tomorrow, at least on results day.
The verdict, such as it is
Zoom out and the picture is consistent: soaring growth rates, giant losses, and valuations that already price in a decade of flawless execution. Wedbush went into the week bullish, carrying Outperform ratings with a $75 target on IonQ and $40 on both Rigetti and D-Wave. Bullish targets and thin revenue can coexist for a long time in a field this early.
These are speculative stocks in the fullest sense. The underlying science is advancing for real, IonQ genuinely looks like it is turning into a company rather than a lab, and any of the three could get halved on a single bad quarter or a rate scare. If you buy the sector, buy the volatility that comes stapled to it. (Not investment advice.)
Did you know: D-Wave sold what it billed as the world’s first commercial quantum computer back in 2011, to Lockheed Martin, long before the phrase quantum computing meant anything on a trading desk.
Sources
- DCD: Quantum earnings Q2 2026 roundup
- Benzinga: IonQ posts Q2 double beat, raises outlook
- The Quantum Insider: Rigetti Q2 2026 results
Related on Top Tool Stack: QC Ware Just Ran Real Enzyme Chemistry on IBM’s Quantum Chip · CoreWeave Doubled Its Revenue and Still Lost $626 Million. The Market Cheered.