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Did you buy QBTS securities between February 26, 2026 and August 25, 2026?

Affected QBTS Investor Summary

Who: D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NASDAQ: QBTS) What: Securities fraud class action lawsuit filed Class Period: February 26, 2026 through August 25, 2026 Deadline to Seek Lead Plaintiff Status: December 15, 2026 Key Lawsuit Allegations: Material misstatements and/or omissions concerning the company's financial and operational prospects Investor Action: Contact Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com) for recovery options , /PRNewswire/ -- Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com), a nationally recognized securities litigation law firm, informs investors that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has been filed against D-Wave Quantum Inc. (D-Wave) (NASDAQ: QBTS) on behalf of those who purchased or acquired D-Wave securities between February 26, 2026 and August 25, 2026, inclusive. The lawsuit is filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and is captioned Fessler v. D-Wave Quantum Inc., No. 5:26-cv-11953 (N.D. Cal.). Investors have until December 15, 2026, to file for lead plaintiff status.

CONTACT KTMC TO DISCUSS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS:
If you purchased or acquired D-Wave securities and have lost money on your investment, please provide your information here: https://www.ktmc.com/qbts-dwave-quantum-inc-class-action-lawsuit?utm_campaign=hc?utm_source=PR_Newswire&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=qbts&mktm=PR

You can also contact attorney Jonathan Naji, Esq. by calling (484) 270-1453 or by email at [email protected]. There is no cost or obligation to speak with an attorney.

To view the D-Wave video on YouTube, click here: https://youtu.be/1-ab4w_SeA4?si=nQXXTpj3fahTFlFp

D-WAVE QUANTUM INC. CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT - COMPLAINT ALLEGATION SUMMARY:
D-Wave is in the business of developing and delivering quantum computing systems, software, and services.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material facts about the company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants misrepresented and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Defendants materially overstated the company's operational and financial prospects; (2) as a result, it was reasonably likely that D-Wave would experience a negative impact to its business and reputation; and (3) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' statements about the company's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.

WHY DID D-WAVE'S STOCK DROP?
On August 6, 2026, D-Wave reported disappointing financial results for the second quarter of 2026 including, among other items, missing analysts' revenue expectations. On this news, the price of D-Wave's stock fell by $1.99 per share, or 9.28%, to close at $19.41 per share on August 6, 2026.

Then, on August 25, 2026, D-Wave issued a press release announcing the resignation of its CFO, effective September 2, 2026. On this news, the price of D-Wave's stock fell $1.84 per share, or 9.51%, closing at $17.52 per share on August 26, 2026.

WHAT D-WAVE QUANTUM INC. INVESTORS CAN DO NOW:

File to be lead plaintiff by December 15, 2026. Contact KTMC for a free case evaluation. All representation is on a contingency fee basis, there is no cost to you. Retain counsel of choice or take no action. THE LEAD PLAINTIFF PROCESS FOR D-WAVE QUANTUM INC. INVESTORS:
D-Wave investors may, no later than December 15, 2026, seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages D-Wave investors to contact the firm for more information.

ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP (KTMC):
Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (KTMC) is a leading U.S. plaintiff-side law firm focused on securities-fraud class actions and global investor protection. The firm represents individual investors as well as institutions, such as major pension funds, asset managers, and international investors. KTMC has led some of the largest recoveries in securities litigation and has been recognized by peers and the legal media with numerous accolades, including being recognized in Chambers & Partners USA 2026 as a Band 1 Top Firm in Securities and Class Actions, Legal 500's Tier 1 Rankings for Securities and M&A Litigation, The National Law Journal's Plaintiff's Hot List and Trailblazers in Plaintiffs' Law, BTI Consulting Group's Honor Roll of Most Feared Law Firms, The Legal Intelligencer's Class Action Firm of the Year, Lawdragon's Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, and Law360's Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar. The firm operates globally with offices in Pennsylvania and California. KTMC has recovered over $25 billion for our clients and the classes they represent. The complaint in this matter was not filed by KTMC.

CONTACT:
Jonathan Naji, Esq.
(484) 270-1453
280 King of Prussia Road
Radnor, PA 19087
[email protected]

May be considered attorney advertising in certain jurisdictions. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

SOURCE Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP

D-Wave (QBTS +2.72%) already has something that matters in industries at the bleeding edge of science: technology customers are willing to pay for. This has won D-Wave many fans, but with annual sales still measured in the tens of millions, its enormous valuation assumes a whole lot more is coming. Will it?

And five years from now, where will D-Wave stock be?

$12.10+$0.32 (+2.72%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/21/26

How quantum computing differs from traditional computing First, a short primer on quantum computing: The phone or laptop you're reading this on processes information using bits -- 0s and 1s. Quantum computers use quantum bits, or "qubits," which can exist in a combination of those two states. That gives them a fundamentally different way to process information, and that means quantum computers could tackle problems that are more or less impossible to solve by traditional methods.

Image source: Getty Images.

Of course, "could" is doing a fair amount of work here. Building the kind of mature, powerful, and widely useful quantum computer that the industry hopes to build is still a real engineering challenge.

D-Wave's approach to commercial quantum computing D-Wave's "quantum annealing" approach is especially good at optimization. Think problems like scheduling workers across multiple factories or improving routing for a fleet of delivery trucks.

And critically, this approach has yielded more real-world results more quickly than much of the competition. D-Wave already offers its annealing technology commercially. However, there's a catch: Annealing is widely considered to have less upside than other approaches, trading long-term potential for near-term utility.

The company is now pursuing an alternative gate-based approach after the recent acquisition of Quantum Circuits, but it has traditionally been focused on optimization and commercialization.

D-Wave's revenue, bookings, and continued losses This strategy means that, unlike some of its peers, D-Wave has a real -- albeit modest -- business. Its sales clocked in at $3.1 million last quarter, flat year over year. However, there are signs of better times ahead.

The company's backlog stands at $40.7 million. That includes a single $20 million system sale booked in the first quarter (Q1).

While revenue could pick up, D-Wave is still struggling on the bottom line, losing $48 million in Q2.

The company does, however, have a decent financial cushion, ending June with $546.2 million in cash and securities.

Two scenarios for D-Wave's growth through 2031 For these scenarios, let's start with roughly $42.5 million in 2026 revenue, close to the current analyst consensus.

A bullish scenario

D-Wave's annealing systems gain wider adoption as customers find meaningful advantages in scheduling, logistics, and other optimization tasks. Its gate-based technology progresses, opening up additional applications. Sales grow at 50% annually, reaching about $323 million in 2031. The company moves closer to profitability but continues operating in the red as it scales. A bearish scenario

Annealing finds some useful applications, but adoption remains limited as traditional computing proves competitive. Its gate-based systems remain largely confined to research and experimentation. Sales grow at 15% annually, reaching about $85 million in 2031. The company remains deeply unprofitable and eventually turns to further stock sales to help fund the gap. Where could D-Wave stock be in five years? Honestly, I see D-Wave looking a lot more like the latter case five years from now. The company already has some practical applications, but turning those into a large, profitable business and continuing to scale is another matter.

In that scenario, I doubt investors will be willing to pay anywhere near today's enormous sales multiple. Even at 10 times sales, D-Wave would be worth only $850 million, significantly less than the nearly $4.5 billion valuation it carries today.

Of course, I could be very wrong. Adoption could accelerate, and D-Wave's technology could improve faster than I expect, and its annealing approach could find wider commercial use than I assume. But I'm skeptical that its business will grow nearly as quickly as many investors assume.

Key Takeaways QBTS held $546.2M in cash and securities as of June 2026-end, down 33% largely due to Quantum Circuits.
Adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $69.9M in the first half of 2026 as D-Wave increased development spending.
D-Wave's QCaaS subscription revenues grew over 30%, while bookings reached $35.5M in the first half of 2026.

D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) retains substantial liquidity to fund product development and commercial expansion despite a decline in cash following its Quantum Circuits acquisition. As of June 30, 2026, cash and marketable securities totaled $546.2 million, down 33% from $819.3 million a year earlier. More than 90% of the decline was linked to the approximately $250 million cash consideration paid for the acquisition.

However, D-Wave continues to increase spending on product development and go-to-market initiatives. Adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $69.9 million in the first half of 2026 from $26.1 million a year earlier. Its liquidity provides flexibility to advance both annealing and gate-model quantum computing technologies.

The company is also expanding its quantum computing-as-a-service (QCaaS) business. First-half subscription revenues rose more than 30% year over year to $3.6 million. Bookings reached $35.5 million, while remaining performance obligations totaled $40.7 million at the end of June, providing visibility into future contracted revenues.

Stockholders' equity totaled $1.08 billion. Overall, D-Wave's liquidity and contracted business provide resources to support its technology roadmap and commercial expansion. However, continued investment and rising operating losses remain important factors in assessing its financial runway.

Peer UpdateIonQ (IONQ - Free Report) ended June 2026 with about $3.0 billion of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and investments before the SkyWater closing. After subtracting cash used for the acquisition, cash equivalents and investments were about $2.0 billion. 

IONQ’s remaining performance obligations rose to $485 million as of June 30, 2026, from $470 million as of March 31, 2026, and the company expects about half of the June balance to convert to revenues within the next 12 months. This provides multi-quarter visibility as IonQ funds R&D, manufacturing and go-to-market investment. Operating cash outflow totaled $254.8 million in the first half of 2026, underscoring the importance of maintaining adequate liquidity to support ongoing investments.

Microsoft’s (MSFT - Free Report) heavy infrastructure spending is absorbing a growing share of its operating cash generation. Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $76.8 billion as of June 30, 2026, down from $94.6 billion a year earlier. Cash flow from operations rose about 30% year over year to $55.4 billion in fourth-quarter fiscal 2026, but free cash flow fell 23% to $19.6 billion as investment accelerated. 

MSFT expects free cash flow to return to positive growth during fiscal 2027, so execution on that recovery matters as capital expenditures remain elevated. MSFT’s property and equipment, net, increased to $313.1 billion from $205.0 billion a year earlier, expanding the asset base that must earn adequate returns. Long-term debt, including the current portion, amounted to $31.1 billion as of fiscal 2026-end, leaving less financial flexibility if AI infrastructure develops more slowly than expected.

Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).

Tom Yeung here with your Sunday Digest.

In 1999, the legendary value investor Bill Miller walked out of a meeting with executives from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN).

Miller was convinced he’d found the most capital-efficient retailer ever created. In a Barron’s article, he detailed how Amazon was potentially the future of shopping and concluded that the “payoff for being right is high.”

His Legg Mason Capital Management fund bought millions of shares for an average cost of $1.50, adjusted for splits.

Miller was right. Eventually.

Today, Amazon is worth over $250 a share. The company towers over the retail landscape, dominating areas like books, smart home devices, and household goods. It’s now hard to remember life without same-day shipping.

But Miller lost a lot of money on Amazon at first.

You see, the fund manager began buying shares right as the dot-com bubble was bursting. Amazon’s stock would fall to $0.30, and Miller’s position was in the red for years.

That’s why I warned you about buying quantum computing stocks last month. Even though shares of these companies will likely do fantastically over the next decade, their risky nature means you could lose a lot of money at first. Much like investing in Amazon in the 1990s, you need a 10-plus year horizon to buy quantum stocks today, if you plan on using a buy-and-hold strategy.

However, our resident trading expert, Jonathan Rose, is more interested in generating returns today.

In fact, he’s so confident in his trading system that he’s calling his latest free presentation the $10K to $100K Challenge. In it, he outlines how his system spots the tiny clues that professional traders leave behind, opening the door to more immediate returns… the sort that can turn $10,000 into $100,000 in just a year.

He will also make available three of his top trades after that presentation. And today, I’ve been given permission to reveal one of his three picks.

To learn more about the other two, click here to watch the replay of Jonathan’s $10K to $100K Challenge.

A Quantum Leap Forward
Quantum computers have long been the “holy grail” of computing. That’s because the subatomic particles described by quantum physics are not limited by the binary “0s” and “1s” of ordinary computers. Instead, quantum “bits” can live between “0” and “1” as well.

The possibilities here are vast. Quantum computers will be able to perform enormous numbers of calculations at the same time. They will also be able to break modern encryption, develop new drugs, and maybe even train AI models. I expect the industry to be worth trillions in a decade or so, and I highlighted three top contenders last month with the technology that could get us there.

However, those seeking shorter-term gains might want to consider D-Wave Quantum Inc. (QBTS), one of Jonathan’s recommendations in his $10K to $100K Challenge.

Let’s start with some background on the company…

A Business and a Bet
D-Wave began in 1999 as a spinout from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. For the first 10 years, it was a physics project with not much of a business model. But in 2011, D-Wave became the first company to ever sell a quantum machine when Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) bought one for about $10 million.

D-Wave was so early because it used a relatively limited version of quantum computing known as annealing. It’s a narrow approach that can only do one thing: Find the lowest point.

There’s no encryption breaking. No drug molecule simulations. No Shor’s algorithm.

Instead, D-Wave’s computers can only do optimization problems, like finding the lowest point in a mountain range, or the shortest trip a postal worker can make. That makes D-Wave’s “computers” more like a wind tunnel – a useful tool, but good at only one task. That is not enough to turn D-Wave into a $100 billion company.

That’s almost certainly why D-Wave bought Quantum Circuits earlier this year for $800 million. That Yale University spinout is working on a more general-purpose quantum computer that now puts D-Wave on a better track to reaching the “holy grail” of computing.

The Bet Worth Taking
The obvious problem with D-Wave today is the same one that Bill Miller faced in 1999 with Amazon:

You know a new technology is a game changer, but it’s not clear when to get in.

Jonathan Rose’s system looks to solve this. By tracking “smart money” activity, his system detects when and where Wall Street is placing their bets and picks out which names are most likely to break out. It’s helped him navigate markets for over two decades, and he continues to use it to find the most promising bets for further investigation.

The system is now flagging D-Wave as a potential breakout stock.

Since the end of July, traders have been making major bullish bets on D-Wave. Open interest on bullish positions has more than doubled since July, while bearish positions are only up 67%. This has happened even as D-Wave’s stock was going down.

The positive bets are particularly noticeable for contracts expiring in late Q1 2027. The heavy bullish trading activity centered around that period suggests that Wall Street is convinced D-Wave will make a major upward move by March of next year.

So, why might Wall Street’s “smart money” buy a quantum stock that’s down 57% since June?

It certainly has nothing to do with quantum technology itself. A useful general-purpose quantum computer won’t appear until at least 2030, and I don’t expect D-Wave to get there first. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) is much further along.

But the interesting thing about tactical trading in D-Wave is that it does not depend on quantum computing at all. Instead, it’s all about certain announcements happening as scheduled.

The Bear Case is Breaking
For nine years D-Wave’s short sellers have had one argument: Revenue never comes.

Quarter after quarter, D-Wave has announced disappointing sales numbers that barely dented its nine-figure cost base. In fact, the company has now missed revenue estimates in 14 of its past 17 quarters. It’s why short interest has risen from around 10% of floated shares in 2024 to 16% in 2025, and almost 20% today.

The sharks are circling because there’s so much blood in the water.

The tide is finally turning. For the first time in the company’s history, D-Wave now has a meaningful amount of contracted revenues on its balance sheet. The company signed a $20 million contract with Florida Atlantic University in January, which helped bring its overall backlog to $40.7 million, up 688% in a year. It expects to convert more than half of that backlog into revenues by year-end.

That means fourth-quarter revenue estimates of $32 million are no longer just built on hope. The company finally has contracts it can convert into revenue, and its year-end numbers published in February should show a historic “surge” in sales.

That would suddenly change the optics for QBTS. The quantum computing firm would transform from a near-zero revenue company to one that looks like a hypergrowth firm. That alone could be enough to lure in new money that chases out the short sellers.

Rushing for the Exits
Chasing out the shorts deserves a special mention. D-Wave is currently a highly shorted stock, and these bearish traders are now sitting on large paper profits that can evaporate in an instant. If the stock suddenly shoots up (whether from rising revenues or swarm buying), every dollar of gains for long holders is a dollar of loss for these bears.

And here’s the thing: When short sellers close out, they need to buy the stock, not sell. That creates an upward pull on share prices, causing even more short sellers to close out, and so on.

This vicious cycle of buying is called a short squeeze, and it is every short seller’s worst nightmare.

So, how likely is it to happen to D-Wave?

As Eric Fry explains in a recent Fry’s Investment Report update (subscription required), the risk of a short squeeze is summed up by one measure known as “days to cover”:

Professional short sellers gauge crowding with a simple yardstick called “days to cover.” It answers one question: If every short seller tried to buy back their shares at once, how many days of normal trading would it take to get the job done?

Today, D-Wave’s 71 million shorted shares would take 4.5 days to unload, roughly the same amount of time it would take GameStop Corp.’s (GME) short sellers to exit. And because D-Wave is even more volatile than GameStop (since it is a smaller firm), the risk of a squeeze is even higher.

We saw this firsthand in September 2025, when QBTS surged from $15 to almost $40 within a month. Quantum stocks saw renewed investor interest, and the initial rise was compounded as short sellers cut their positions.

What should have been a minor rally in QBTS turned into a bonanza for the longs.

D-Wave’s “days to cover” number is now even higher than in 2025. And so, if the stock begins to rally, we could easily see shares going into the mid-$20 range on short covering.

Turning a Good Idea into a Great Trade
Now, I must note that a tactical position in QBTS is very risky. The company is still losing money, and the expected Q4 sales boost won’t come close to helping D-Wave break even.

Analysts expect net losses to hit $102 million this year, driven by heavy spending on research, sales, and stock-based compensation. Next year looks even worse as R&D spending ramps up.

That’s why investors need a way to tilt the odds further in their favor.

To do this, Jonathan uses a particular type of trade that will benefit if QBTS moves higher through March 2027. The maximum amount you can lose is the money you put in – much like what happens when a stock goes to zero. For a speculative company like D-Wave, this is always a real possibility.

But if QBTS doubles to $25, Jonathan’s strategy would net you a 6X increase by March, rather than the 2X rise had you just bought the stock outright.

Now, if this sounds too good to be true, I’d like you to watch Jonathan’s presentation. In it, he explains exactly how he sets his trades up for such lopsided gains, how to know when it’s time to cut losses, and how you too can use his system to identify potential winners and make the right kinds of trades.

We know D-Wave is an extremely risky stock in the short term. So, we might as well set up any wager to magnify gains if they materialize.

Click here to watch Jonathan’s presentation.

Until next week,

Thomas Yeung, CFA

Market Analyst, InvestorPlace

Thomas Yeung is a market analyst and portfolio manager of the Omnia Portfolio, the highest-tier subscription at InvestorPlace. He is the former editor of Tom Yeung’s Profit & Protection, a free e-letter about investing to profit in good times and protecting gains during the bad.

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lead Plaintiff Deadline: December 15, 2026. Investors who purchased (NASDAQ: QBTS) securities between February 26, 2026 and August 25, 2026 may be eligible to recover losses.

"Our practice focuses on restoring investor capital and ensuring corporate accountability to uphold market integrity," said Peretz Bronstein.

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC ("BG&G"), a nationally recognized investor-rights law firm, announces that it has filed a securities class action lawsuit against D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) ("D-Wave" or the "Company") and certain of its officers.

The lawsuit, captioned , Case No. 5:26-cv-11953, was filed on October 15, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The action seeks to recover damages on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired D-Wave securities between February 26, 2026 and August 25, 2026, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), for alleged violations of the federal securities laws.

Investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's website: https://bgandg.com/cases/d-wave-quantum-inc-qbts-class_action_lawsuit/

D-Wave Case Details

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and financial prospects. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:
      (1)    Defendants materially overstated D-Wave's business, operational, and financial prospects;
      (2)    The foregoing was reasonably likely to negatively impact the Company's business and reputation; and
      (3)    As a result, Defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On August 6, 2026, D-Wave reported second-quarter revenue of $3.08 million, falling short of analysts' expectations of approximately $4.03 million to $4.08 million. On this news, D-Wave's stock price declined $1.99 per share, or 9.28%, closing at $19.41 per share.

Then, on August 25, 2026, D-Wave announced that Chief Financial Officer John Markovich would retire and resign from his position effective September 2, 2026. On this news, D-Wave's stock price fell $1.84 per share, or 9.51%, closing at $17.51 per share on August 26, 2026.

What's Next for D-Wave Investors?

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC has already filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of D-Wave investors. The action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California under Case No. 5:26-cv-11953.

If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, you can visit the firm’s site: bgandg.com/cases/d-wave-quantum-inc-qbts-class_action_lawsuit. or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Client Relations Manager, Nathan Miller, of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 917-590-0911. If you suffered a loss in D-Wave you have until December 15, 2026, to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff.

No Cost to D-Wave Investors

We, Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC, represent investors in class actions on a contingency fee basis. That means we will ask the court to reimburse us for out-of-pocket expenses and attorneys’ fees, usually a percentage of the total recovery, only if we are successful.

Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC for D-Wave Securities Class Action?

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide. More at www.bgandg.com

"Our practice centers on restoring investor capital and ensuring corporate accountability, which serves to uphold the essential integrity of the marketplace," said Peretz Bronstein, Founding Partner of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, or Instagram.

Contact Info

Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or Nathan Miller
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
917-590-0911 | [email protected]

Attorney advertising.
Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

IonQ just handed investors two rounds of dilution in rapid succession, and the quantum sector is selling off in response. Whether the company's breakneck revenue growth can outpace its expanding share count may define who stays and who bails.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ | IONQ Price Prediction) stock is trading at $32.76, down 6%, after the quantum company priced a $2 billion equity offering. Its raise arrives days after IonQ agreed to buy cybersecurity company Elisity in an all-stock deal worth up to $1.3 billion, so shareholders are absorbing two rounds of fresh equity in quick succession.

Meanwhile, D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ:QBTS) stock is at $12.87, down 4%, as the selling spreads to other quantum names. As a sector gauge, the Defiance Quantum ETF (NASDAQ:QTUM) is down 2% to $145.22. For comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is down 0.4%, with the broad market lower after an inflation reading came in above expectations.

IonQ’s back-to-back deals raise a question hanging over pure-play quantum names, including Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI); Rigetti stock is declining 4% to $12.26 today. At issue is how much of their ownership existing holders give up to pay for growth. Speculative corners like this can still earn a place in a portfolio when they’re fenced off with real rules, which is the whole premise of our free speculation guide, here.

Heights Capital Deal Follows the Elisity Purchase Under the offering terms, IonQ sold common stock and pre-funded warrants to an entity managed by Heights Capital Management at a price set above the prior session’s close, with J.P. Morgan as sole underwriter. The package also includes seven-year warrants to buy 100 million additional IonQ shares at an exercise level set well above what the Heights entity paid in the offering.

At its core, IonQ builds trapped-ion quantum computers, led by its IonQ Tempo systems, and sells access to them alongside networking, sensing and security products such as the ClavisXG Multiplex. Recent acquisitions of SkyWater Technology, which closed July 31, and Nexus Photonics brought chip fabrication and integrated photonics in-house.

Weighing the Bullish and Bearish Cases The bullish case rests on operating momentum. IonQ reported Q2 2026 revenue of $80.05 million, up 286.8% from a year earlier, then lifted its 2026 outlook to a range of $280 million to $290 million. IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi defended the long-horizon spending on the company’s August 5 earnings call: “Our capital strength also allows us to invest for the long term, which is essential, of course, in quantum, even as we execute quarter to quarter to quarter.”

Commercial commitments are growing too, with IonQ’s remaining performance obligations up 297% year over year. Separately, IonQ has signed memorandums of understanding with Anduril and Sandia National Laboratories on defense and national security work.

Dilution is the offset for IonQ. Its balance sheet is stronger for the new money, yet each existing share now represents a smaller claim on whatever the platform eventually earns. Adding to that pressure, the company’s stock-based compensation reached $141.8 million in Q2 2026.

D-Wave Faces the Same Funding Math With its acquisition of Quantum Circuits in January, D-Wave added momentum to a gate-model program that sits alongside its annealing systems, giving it a dual-platform approach. D-Wave stock is down 51% year to date (YTD), a deep drop for a company still building out its commercial base.

Near-term results remain the weak spot, with D-Wave’s Q2 2026 revenue of $3.08 million missing estimates and holding essentially flat year over year. Demand signals look stronger, as the company’s first-half bookings surged to $35.5 million and commercial customers made up 62.4% of second-quarter revenue.

Share Count Race Defines IonQ’s Next Chapter IonQ’s open question is whether commercial revenue scales fast enough to outrun a share count that has expanded with every deal. Management expects to begin commissioning 256-qubit systems in 2027, with those semiconductor-based machines set to become the main revenue driver.

Elisity adds a second test, since IonQ says customers increasingly discuss quantum computing and quantum security together. Success there would give the new shares more revenue to stand behind. Until then, shareholders may choose to size their positions for the possibility of further dilution.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

, /PRNewswire/ -- Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com), a nationally recognized securities litigation law firm, is investigating potential violations of the federal securities laws by D-Wave Quantum Inc. ("D-Wave") (NASDAQ: QBTS) on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired D-Wave securities and experienced significant financial losses.

D-Wave Reports Disappointing Financial Results

On August 6, 2026, D-Wave reported disappointing financial results for the second quarter of 2026 including, among other items, revenue of only $3.08 million, missing analyst expectations in the range of $4.03 million to $4.08 million. Then, on August 25, 2026, D-Wave issued a press release announcing the resignation of its CFO, effective September 2, 2026.

D-Wave's Stock Drops Over 9%

Following the August 6, 2026, news of D-Wave's poor financial results, the company's stock price fell over 9%, and fell again, over 9%, on August 26, 2026.

Investors who purchased D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NASDAQ: QBTS) securities and experienced losses may have legal rights under the federal securities laws.

CONTACT KTMC TO DISCUSS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS:    

If you purchased or acquired D-Wave Quantum Inc. securities and have lost money on your investment, please provide your information here:
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NEW YORK, Oct. 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of D-Wave Quantum Inc. (“D-Wave” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: QBTS).  Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, ext. 7980.

The investigation concerns whether D-Wave and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. 

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On August 6, 2026, D-Wave reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2026.  Among other items, D-Wave issues revenue of only $3.08 million, compared to $3.1 million for the same period in the prior year, and missing analyst expectations in the range of $4.03 million to $4.08 million. 

On this news, D-Wave’s stock price fell $1.99 per share, or 9.28%, to close at $19.41 per share on August 6, 2026. 

Then, on August 25, 2026, D-Wave issued a press release “announc[ing] that John Markovich is retiring and thus resigning from his position as Chief Financial Officer effective September 2, 2026.” 

On this news, D-Wave’s stock price fell $1.84 per share, or 9.51%, to close at $17.51 per share on August 26, 2026.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com.

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D-Wave Quantum Today

$15.86 +0.22 (+1.37%)

As of 11:12 AM Eastern

This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.

$12.75▼

$46.75$36.27

After years of attempting to distinguish itself from most publicly traded quantum computing companies, one of D-Wave Quantum's NASDAQ: QBTS latest—and potentially most important—technological achievements has been in the same area as many of its rivals. The company's quantum annealing systems have drawn investor attention for their potential with optimization problems, but this has led some investors to question whether D-Wave could compete in a longer-term race toward fault-tolerant quantum tech.

The early-October announcement of a beta program for a gate-model quantum simulator could help put investors' minds at ease. This tool, available to some commercial and research organizations, will allow customers to begin developing applications in an error-aware programming ecosystem before D-Wave makes its gate-model hardware widely available. It signals the company's success at gaining a foothold in the competitive gate-model R&D arena, even as the impact on the firm's financial performance remains harder to gauge.

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The Bigger Role of D-Wave’s Gate-Model SimulatorSoftware simulators are quite common across the computing industry, so investors may understandably overlook some of the potential impacts of D-Wave's offering. This simulator aims to do more than just emulate quantum circuits. Instead, it takes a unique approach to addressing quantum errors—it allows developers to observe error signals and then build algorithms that utilize that information.

The goal of this simulator is to both reduce the hardware requirements for quantum error correction and get a head start on building software before the hardware itself becomes available. Both of these are likely roadblocks to commercializing D-Wave's tools, so the simulator could accelerate the company's path to widespread marketability on multiple fronts.

The Simulator Is a Long-Term Catalyst, Not a Near-Term Earnings DriverIt may be a mistake to look at D-Wave's simulator as a catalyst for near-term revenue or profitability gains. Indeed, that doesn't seem to be the company's aim in launching this offering. Rather, it's a way of validating the work that it has been doing and, particularly, the firm's dual status as an annealing and gate-model company.

IonQ Inc. NYSE: IONQ has recently taken a critical lead over others in the quantum computing industry thanks to its solid Q2 2026 earnings report. After a lackluster report of its own, D-Wave needs to be on the attack to reaffirm its technological authority.

For investors, the danger lies in viewing the simulator launch as a driver of short-term sales. It's unlikely to change D-Wave's top- or bottom-line performance materially, at least for the foreseeable future. Rather, D-Wave may be attempting to position itself as a go-to provider of hardware and other quantum tools when those tools do become more broadly commercially available—potential customers convinced of the firm's technology by their experience with the simulator might be more likely to pay for those tools down the line.

With this in mind, investors should watch for a multi-stage financial impact. First, customers may engage with the tools themselves. Second, D-Wave may unveil paid software and development services as it incorporates client feedback and allows for broader access to its simulator beyond a select small group of organizations.

Finally, when D-Wave successfully delivers commercially available gate-model systems, this may translate into hardware revenue. This may not happen for many quarters to come, however.

D-Wave Still Faces a Difficult Execution TestIonQ and many other competitors have tended to center their long-term R&D strategies around gate-model quantum technology. D-Wave continues to compete on this front while developing its own annealing path. The risks include the company stretching its resources too thin, potentially falling behind on gate-model tech while also failing to deliver a meaningful annealing competitor.

D-Wave Quantum Stock Forecast Today12-Month Stock Price Forecast:
$36.27
126.34% Upside

Moderate Buy
Based on 16 Analyst Ratings

Current Price$16.02High Forecast$44.00Average Forecast$36.27Low Forecast$22.00D-Wave Quantum Stock Forecast Details

Shares of D-Wave are down roughly 40% year to date (YTD), though analysts see them surging back up by nearly 135% to $36.27. In the days immediately following the simulator announcement, it appears this new program is unlikely to be the catalyst for a reversal of D-Wave's share decline.

The company's cash position, while solid, must support its extended R&D efforts for a considerable time going forward, while D-Wave continues to build an integrated gate-model system that includes hardware as well as software, cloud access, developer tools, and more. Milestones like the simulator are critical, but do not remove the pressure that the firm faces.

Many investors have already sold their positions as they've grown tired of waiting for quantum companies to reach profitability—this latest marker may reassure those who remain bullish, but sooner or later D-Wave will need to deliver on sales and earnings.

Should You Invest $1,000 in D-Wave Quantum Right Now?Before you consider D-Wave Quantum, you'll want to hear this.

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Collaboration combines CGI's industry expertise and D-Wave's quantum technology to help clients address complex optimization challenges and improve decision-making

, /PRNewswire/ -- CGI (NYSE: GIB) (TSX: GIB.A), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, today announced a strategic partnership with D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NASDAQ: QBTS) ("D-Wave"), the only dual-platform quantum computing company providing both annealing and gate-model systems, software and services. The partnership focuses on helping clients advance the practical application of quantum computing technologies across key industries, including logistics, transportation and retail. 

"As AI adoption advances and organizations seek new ways to solve increasingly complex business objectives, quantum computing is emerging as a practical complement to classical computing for selected use cases," said Dave Henderson, Chief Technology Officer, CGI. "Organizations are moving beyond research to evaluate where quantum technologies can improve optimization and enhance decision-making. Through our partnership with D-Wave, CGI is helping clients identify high-value use cases, and to validate them through practical experimentation and broader enterprise adoption."

The strategic partnership builds on more than a year of collaboration between CGI and D-Wave to advance enterprise quantum use cases. Through the go-to-market partnership, CGI will integrate D-Wave's quantum computing platforms, including access to D-Wave's Advantage2™ quantum computer as well as hybrid solvers, into its advanced technology services portfolio, enabling clients to explore and deploy quantum-enhanced solutions for mission-critical challenges such as industrial production planning, energy grid optimization, and asset maintenance scheduling. CGI and D-Wave plan to co-develop use cases focused on areas where quantum computing can augment classical approaches and support measurable business outcomes. Current initiatives include the development of quantum-enabled solutions for transportation and rail, supporting train scheduling, rail network and yard operations, and resource allocation, as well as retail applications designed to improve supply chain planning, delivery routing and workforce scheduling through quantum optimization

"Quantum computing's business value is no longer theoretical," said Lorenzo Martinelli, chief revenue officer at D-Wave. "D-Wave customers are using annealing quantum computing today to improve operations and generate tangible results on problems that challenge legacy systems. Combining D-Wave's quantum technology with CGI's scale, industry expertise and delivery capabilities will give more organizations a clear path from exploration to production and measurable business value."

The partnership reflects CGI's continued investment in advanced technologies that help clients prepare for the next generation of enterprise computing. As quantum technologies continue to mature, CGI is helping organizations evaluate, adopt and scale quantum-enabled solutions where they can deliver measurable business outcomes.

About CGI

Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world. With 94,000 consultants and professionals across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from strategic IT and business consulting to systems integration, managed IT and business process services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network that helps clients digitally transform their organizations and accelerate results. CGI Fiscal 2025 reported revenue is CA$15.91 billion and CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Learn more at cgi.com.

About CGI's global alliances

CGI's global alliance strategy features partnerships with more than 150 technology companies and supports its local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network. This approach enables CGI consultants and professionals to remain independent and agile in selecting solutions that best fit each client's unique needs, including technology stack requirements and considerations such as digital and AI sovereignty. Learn more at cgi.com/alliances

SOURCE CGI Inc.

Quantum computing companies are finally starting to generate real revenue. IonQ (IONQ -0.24%), for instance, raised its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to a range of $450 million to $460 million ahead of its first joint investor day on Tuesday -- helped by the addition of SkyWater Technology, the chipmaking business it acquired at the end of July.

D-Wave Quantum (QBTS +0.84%) is at a much earlier stage. The quantum computing specialist's revenue for the first half of 2026 fell 67% year over year to $5.9 million.

Even so, I predict the company's revenue triples before 2030. The case doesn't rest on D-Wave's recent growth rate -- there isn't one to lean on. It rests on what customers have already contracted to spend.

To be clear, I'm predicting what the business does, not what the stock does. The growth stock trades near $18 as of this writing, less than half its 52-week peak of $46.75, and I think even a tripled top line would leave shares expensive.

Image source: Getty Images.

A lumpy revenue baseD-Wave's full-year 2025 revenue was $24.6 million, up 179% from $8.8 million in 2024. That jump, however, leaned heavily on a single event. The company's first-ever sale of an annealing quantum computing system contributed $12.6 million to first-quarter 2025 revenue. So when 2026 lapped that deal, the comparisons turned ugly. Revenue fell 81% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, and revenue in the second quarter was essentially flat at $3.1 million.

Set the system sale aside, and the ongoing business (mostly selling access to D-Wave's machines over the cloud) still generates only a few million dollars a quarter. Any credible forecast has to start there, with a base that is tiny and bumpy.

The order book is soaringBookings, which capture the value of contracts customers signed during the period, totaled $35.5 million in the first half of 2026. A year earlier, that figure was just $2.9 million. Notably, that six-month figure topped the company's revenue for all of last year.

The haul included a $20 million system purchase by Florida Atlantic University and a $10 million, two-year cloud-access agreement with a Fortune 100 company.

Signed contracts pile up in remaining performance obligations (revenue customers have signed for but D-Wave hasn't yet delivered). A year ago, that backlog was just $5.3 million. As of June 30, it stood at $40.7 million. And the company expects about 57% of that backlog to become revenue over the next 12 months, with 72% arriving inside two years.

There's a likely inflection point on the calendar, too. D-Wave expects installation of the Florida Atlantic system to begin before the end of 2026 -- and 2025 showed what a single delivered system can do to the revenue line.

Meanwhile, the tech company can afford to be patient. Operating expenses are running far ahead of revenue (up 93% year over year to $55 million in the second quarter), but D-Wave held about $550 million in cash and marketable securities as of June 30.

And on Tuesday, D-Wave announced it had finalized an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce that gives it access to up to $100 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding for research and development. The government will receive a minority equity stake in return.

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What would tripling be worth?The math is simple enough: tripling 2025's $24.6 million means annual revenue reaching about $74 million in 2029, the last full year before 2030. If the Florida Atlantic system is delivered in time to keep 2026 near last year's level, the following three years would require about 44% annual growth.

Sure, that's a demanding pace for a company whose sales just shrank. But the first half's $35.5 million of bookings shows what the demand side can deliver, and a single system sale can move a full year's revenue by itself. A couple more deals on Florida Atlantic's scale, layered on top of a growing cloud business, could close most of the remaining gap.

Getting there wouldn't make the stock cheap, though. With a market capitalization of about $6.6 billion, D-Wave would still fetch about 90 times sales measured against the 2029 revenue I'm predicting. For comparison, IonQ (hardly a bargain itself) is valued at about 56 times the revenue its quantum business is guided to produce this year.

So, will D-Wave's revenue triple before 2030? I think so. The order book points that way, even if the quarterly numbers stay lumpy in the meantime.

Ultimately, however, a tripled D-Wave would still be a $74 million revenue company carrying a multibillion-dollar valuation. The business appears to be heading in the right direction. At this price, though, I'd opt to stay on the sidelines.

The tail end of the summer may be giving investors in quantum computing a bit of whiplash. On the one hand, D-Wave Quantum Inc. NASDAQ: QBTS delivered one of the more underwhelming Q2 2026 earnings reports, missing on both earnings and revenue, with sales growth seemingly grinding to a halt while competitors saw healthy acceleration.

D-Wave Quantum Today

$16.99 -0.91 (-5.08%)

As of 08/28/2026 04:00 PM Eastern

$12.75▼

$46.75$36.27

On the other hand, shares of QBTS are up about 20% in the last month, perhaps the first sign of a recovery after a multi-month decline that has been ongoing since May. Short interest in the stock is up, but only to about 1.3% of the float over the past month.

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Despite missing expectations and appearing to fall behind the pack in its last earnings, there is nonetheless a compelling bull case for D-Wave going forward—based on the company's strong potential to convert contracted projects into realized revenue, its capacity to build bookings, its rising backlog, and more.

All of these factors could combine to justify Wall Street's continued enthusiasm and the impressive 90% predicted upside for QBTS stock.

Looking Beyond the Sales SlumpD-Wave's Q2 sales slump is, on the surface, discouraging—particularly given that rivals like IonQ Inc. NYSE: IONQ posted strong growth in this area in their recent reports. However, there are signs beyond revenue that D-Wave's commercial adoption may be poised to take off.

Commercial revenues represented some 62% of revenue for the quarter, an increase of 45% compared to the prior-year quarter. The company is also generating its revenue from more customers—over 100 in the first half of the year—which is an important development for a firm and industry that has traditionally relied heavily on a small number of lucrative contracts to fuel bottom lines.

Crucially, customers are moving beyond experimentation with quantum tech. Production applications accounted for more than 37% of D-Wave's quantum computing as a service (QCaaS) revenue in the first half of 2026, nearly quadruple their share of those sales in the first half of 2025. This could be an indication that clients are more thoroughly integrating quantum computing into their day-to-day operations.

Bookings and Backlog May Be a Hidden Measure of SuccessPerhaps the strongest argument that investors should not write D-Wave off just yet is the company's strong customer demand, as evidenced by its bookings. While much of this demand has not yet translated to realized revenue, the firm noted 59% year over year (YOY) improvement in its quarterly bookings. Looking at the entire first half of the year, bookings were up a stratospheric 1,120% to $35.5 million.

Yes, more than half of that latter figure is due to a single annealing system sale to Florida Atlantic University—though a good portion of that contract has not yet been recognized as revenue in a quarterly earnings report owing to the lengthy delivery, installation, and testing process. This, however, gives investors a glimpse of future earnings, with the anticipation that the majority of that contract—and others—will show up in future revenue figures.

Looking at D-Wave's backlog also gives the impression that momentum is building in key areas. The firm's remaining performance obligations (RPO) suggest that future revenue could be much higher than recent results would indicate. As of the end of June 2026, D-Wave's RPO stood at $40.7 million, a massive 668% up from the same figure one year earlier. If the expected 57% of that backlog converts to revenue in the coming year, investors may look ahead to a major sales boost.

A Reminder of the RisksThe quantum race is continuing at breakneck speed, and despite the potential suggested by some details in D-Wave's recent earnings report, investors should keep in mind the risks. The industry may be stratifying into top performers, middling firms, and up-and-coming stars, and there is always the threat posed by major legacy tech companies as well.

D-Wave's earnings were a disappointment, with revenue coming in below expectations, losses appearing wider than analysts had predicted, and investors reminded that quarterly results are lumpy and unpredictable. Beyond that, quantum as an industry remains speculative, as none of the firms has achieved widespread commercial adoption yet.

D-Wave's technology is compelling, and its poor revenue performance may not reflect the real momentum that is building among customers. However, the company still very much faces an uphill battle if it is to lead the quantum industry in its efforts to revolutionize computing across the board.

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Should You Invest $1,000 in D-Wave Quantum Right Now?Before you consider D-Wave Quantum, you'll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and D-Wave Quantum wasn't on the list.

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A retiring CFO sent D-Wave Quantum shares tumbling while peers like IonQ and Rigetti got caught in the crossfire, raising a bigger question about whether a routine leadership change reveals something deeper about the risks of owning pre-profit quantum names.

D-Wave Quantum (NYSE:QBTS) stock is down 8% to $17.79 in midday trading Wednesday after the company disclosed its chief financial officer will retire next week. Also, IonQ (NYSE:IONQ | IONQ Price Prediction) shares are down 3% to $40.68, tracking the D-Wave headline as sentiment seems to sour on certain quantum-computing names.

The Defiance Quantum ETF (NASDAQ:QTUM) is down 0.4% to $148.27, barely reacting to the D-Wave move. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is unchanged at $765.57. That gap between the cluster fund and its noisiest member frames today’s decline as a name-specific event.

D-Wave Quantum stock was down 26% year to date through Tuesday’s close, so today’s reaction lands on a name already under pressure this year. IonQ shares are also lower year-to-date, providing context for today’s sympathy move. D-Wave Quantum’s market capitalization sits at $6.57 billion, while IonQ’s market cap sits at $16.48 billion.

Catalyst: Markovich Retires Effective September 2 D-Wave Quantum announced on August 25 that CFO John Markovich is retiring and stepping down effective September 2. Greg Golkov, senior vice president of finance since May 2023, becomes acting chief financial officer and principal financial and accounting officer.

Golkov brings more than 25 years of finance and accounting experience, previously serving as vice president and controller at Butterfly Network and senior vice president of finance at Kaseya. His current remit at D-Wave Quantum already covers accounting, SEC reporting, financial planning and analysis, treasury and tax, so the internal handoff is coming from a familiar seat. Prior operating roles at technology and IT services businesses give Golkov experience relevant to D-Wave Quantum’s cloud-first commercial model.

D-Wave Quantum’s release stated explicitly that the resignation was not the result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to its business, operations, accounting policies, practices, financial statements, disclosure controls and procedures, or internal control over financial reporting. CEO Alan Baratz credited Markovich with a pivotal role in taking the company public in 2022, raising over $900 million in capital, and developing a path to profitability.

Why an Orderly CFO Change Is Sinking QBTS The company is a pre-profit business with a $6.57 billion market capitalization built on future capital raises and future revenue conversion. The company is the only company offering both annealing and gate-model quantum computing systems, sells through the Leap quantum cloud service, professional services, and on-premises systems, and serves more than 100 organizations while holding over 290 U.S. granted patents.

At companies at this stage, the finance seat carries more weight than at a mature operator, because credibility around the path to profitability and the ability to execute additional financings run through it. D-Wave Quantum has stated there was no accounting or controls issue behind the change, so today’s response reads as sentiment around an unexpected leadership shift at a speculative name.

D-Wave Quantum’s Q2 2026 results underline why finance leadership matters at this stage. The company reported Q2 revenue of $3.08 million (missing the $4.03 million estimate), while remaining performance obligations reached $40.7 million, up 668% year over year.

IonQ’s own most recent quarter provides useful contrast on why the market reacts differently to different quantum names. IonQ reported Q2 2026 revenue of $80.05 million (beating the $66.42 million estimate) and raised its full-year 2026 outlook to $280 million to $290 million. That stronger fundamental profile helps explain why the sympathy move in IonQ stock is smaller than the primary reaction in D-Wave Quantum stock today.

Peer Reaction and Position Sizing Other quantum names frequently trade alongside D-Wave and IonQ shares on quantum headlines, and remain part of the same speculative basket. The 3% slide in IonQ stock today, alongside a barely-moved Defiance Quantum ETF, is a reminder of how correlated the group remains, even when the trigger belongs to one company.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) stock is trading at $16.12, down 5%. Quantum Computing Inc. (NASDAQ:QUBT) stock is down only 1% to $8.35. Both names are lower on the session, but as you can see, the damage isn’t evenly spread.

For position sizing, investors holding D-Wave Quantum stock into this transition may want to keep their exposure modest until Golkov’s tenure produces a full quarterly close and an earnings call. D-Wave Quantum stock carries a beta of 2.16 and a 52-week range of $12.75 to $46.75, which argues for smaller position sizes than a mature technology name would warrant (we wrote a free playbook on sizing speculative bets to no more than 5% of a portfolio, here).

Investors can watch for signs that the acting CFO tag becomes permanent, which would remove one layer of uncertainty from this story. D-Wave Quantum’s next scheduled information point is the Q3 2026 earnings report, where management can address capital planning, the pace of bookings-to-revenue conversion, and the path to profitability under new finance leadership.

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Key Takeaways D-Wave trails peers after Q2 as revenues fell short and bookings dropped sharply from the prior quarter.D-Wave has $40.7M in RPO, planned 2026 system deliveries and growing production applications.QBTS carries a lofty valuation, while analysts see 71% upside if bookings convert into revenue growth. D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report)  has gained just 0.6% since its Aug. 6 second-quarter earnings report, trailing IonQ (IONQ - Free Report) , Rigetti (RGTI - Free Report) and the S&P 500, as investors appear to be prioritizing near-term financial execution over D-Wave’s long-term technology milestones. The disconnect is evident in the company’s second-quarter revenues, essentially flat year over year and 19.5% below the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $37.1 million.

More importantly, second-quarter bookings were only $2.1 million after a $33.4 million first-quarter haul, indicating the lumpiness of demand despite first-half bookings surging 1,120% to $35.5 million.

Stock Comparison Since QBTS’ Q2 Earnings Announcement
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Still, the outlook is improving with $40.7 million of RPO, 57% expected to convert within 12 months, two system deliveries planned for 2026, and production applications already generating 37.3% of first-half QCaaS revenues, providing potential catalysts.

Meanwhile, stronger U.S. policy support for quantum commercialization and domestic supply chains adds a favorable backdrop. The key near-term test is whether bookings convert into revenue and commercial deployments fast enough to justify elevated spending.

Q3 & 2026 Revenue, EPS EstimatesThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for the third quarter of 2026 is pegged at $3.95 million, a 5.7% improvement over the year-ago reported number, with a loss per share expectation of 7 cents (narrower than the year-ago 41 cents of loss), suggesting that the impact of D-Wave’s strong bookings is unlikely to be fully reflected in the near-term results.

For full-year 2026, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is pegged at $38.63 million, a 57.1% improvement over the 2025 reported number. The projected EPS loss narrows to 28 cents from $1.11 in 2025. The estimates therefore place considerable weight on second-half execution, particularly the conversion of bookings, RPO and planned system deliveries into recognized revenue.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Technical AnalysisGoing by the technical picture, QBTS trades below both its 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs). Moreover, the 50-day average remains below the 200-day average, offering no strong technical confirmation of a potential trend reversal. The chart indicates that the market remains cautious despite D-Wave’s improving bookings, RPO and commercial pipeline.

50-200-Day SMAs
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Lofty ValuationDespite its commercial momentum, QBTS continues to trade at a lofty valuation relative to its current revenue base. The stock is currently trading at a 12-month Price/Sales ratio of 110.17X, compared with approximately 5X for the S&P 500. Its three-year median P/S ratio stands at 87.89X, also well below the current multiple. This implies that the stock already carries substantial growth expectations, leaving limited room for execution disappointments.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

But Price Target is HighWith the short-term average price target of $35.79 implying 71.49% upside from the last close of $20.87, the consensus suggests that, despite the stock’s recent weakness and elevated valuation, analysts see substantial room for appreciation as D-Wave converts its strong bookings and commercial pipeline into revenue growth.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Why Hold QBTS NowInvestors may prefer to hold QBTS rather than book profits or initiate fresh positions, as the stock’s strong commercial pipeline and 71% analyst-implied upside offer meaningful potential, while its lofty valuation and weak technical setup warrant caution. The company’s ability to convert bookings into revenue remains the key catalyst. Accordingly, Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) supports a wait-and-watch approach until execution improves. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Quantum computing remains one of the market’s most speculative corners, and August has delivered exactly the kind of setup aggressive investors watch for: monster revenue growth, fresh White House policy tailwinds, and stocks that still trade well below their late-2025 highs. Valuations are extreme, losses are widening, and every name on this list carries binary technology risk. These are speculative bets on a still-pre-commercial industry, not core portfolio holdings.

That said, the operating momentum inside the sector has become impossible to ignore. Bookings are compounding, government funding is flowing, and analyst consensus across the three US-listed pure-plays is overwhelmingly bullish. Here are three quantum computing stocks aggressive, risk-tolerant investors are debating this month.

IonQ (NYSE: IONQ): The Revenue Leader Among Pure-Plays
IonQ (NYSE:IONQ | IONQ Price Prediction) trades at $46.26 with a market cap near $18.31 billion, sitting 20% below its 52-week high of $84.64. The recent tape shows the volatility this name demands: shares are up 23.33% over the past month yet only 3.1% year to date.

The bull case starts with the fundamentals. Q2 FY26 revenue hit $80.05 million, up 286.8% year over year, beating consensus by 20.52%. Management raised full-year guidance to $280 million to $290 million, and remaining performance obligations expanded 297% year over year. CEO Niccolo de Masi called Q2 "the strongest quarter in our company’s history". The SkyWater Technology acquisition closed July 31, 2026, giving IonQ a vertically integrated full-stack quantum platform. Analyst sentiment is 85% bullish with 10 buy ratings and zero sells, and the average analyst target sits at $67.68.

The risk is the accounting. GAAP net loss widened to -$1.87 billion in Q2, largely from $1.6 billion in warrant liability fair-value adjustments, and stock-based compensation ran $141.8 million in a single quarter. Beta of 3.3 means every macro tremor gets amplified here.

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI): The Government-Funded Roadmap Play
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) has been the ugliest chart of the three, down 15.03% year to date to $18.82, but it snapped back 23.41% over the past month. Market cap sits near $6.21 billion against Q2 revenue of just $5.14 million. That ratio alone tells you this is a speculative bet on the roadmap, not the P&L.

What tilts the odds for aggressive buyers is government funding. Rigetti signed a letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for up to $100 million in potential CHIPS Act funding over three years and holds $541.29 million in cash and investments with zero debt. The Cepheus-1-108Q system achieved 99.9% median single-qubit gate fidelity and 99.1% median two-qubit gate fidelity. Q2 revenue grew 185.3% year over year. Analyst consensus is 69% bullish with a target of $28.81.

The caveat: Q2 adjusted EPS of -$0.05 missed estimates, R&D spend of $20.73 million outpaced revenue several times over, and CHIPS Act funding could bring equity dilution. This remains pre-commercial technology.

D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS): The Bookings Story
D-Wave Quantum (NYSE:QBTS) closed at $20.725, off 19.04% year to date despite a 15.87% bounce over the past month. Market cap sits at $7.88 billion.

The reported quarter looked ugly on the surface. Q2 revenue of $3.076 million missed consensus by 23.63% and GAAP EPS of -$0.13 missed as well. Look under the hood, though, and the bookings picture is different: H1 2026 bookings surged to $35.50 million from $2.90 million a year earlier, and remaining performance obligations reached $40.70 million, up 668% year over year. Commercial customer revenue mix climbed to 62.4% from 45.1%. D-Wave is the only company pursuing both annealing and gate-model quantum computing, and its AT&T deployment reduced network optimization processing from one hour to under 15 seconds. Analyst consensus is 94% bullish with a target of $35.25.

The risk is timing. Revenue is essentially flat year over year while operating expenses nearly doubled to $54.98 million, adjusted EBITDA loss widened 85%, and cash dropped to $296.6 million from $819.3 million a year prior. RPO conversion has to hit for the thesis to hold.

What to Watch Next
The sector’s next catalyst window centers on execution against the technology roadmaps: IonQ’s 256-qubit demonstration and quantum error correction results, Rigetti’s path toward 1,000-qubit systems with 99.9% two-qubit fidelity over a three-year horizon, and D-Wave’s 17-physical-qubit gate-model system in 2026. Layered on top: White House quantum executive orders reinforcing the sector as a national priority. If the sector keeps its policy tailwind and any single milestone lands cleanly, these names have the beta to move fast in both directions.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Quantum Earnings Could Decide Whether the Sector’s Sell-Off Has Gone Too FarD-Wave Quantum NASDAQ: QBTS reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $3.1 million, essentially unchanged from the year-earlier period, as growth in quantum computing-as-a-service subscriptions and professional services offset a smaller contribution from systems revenue.

The company said second-quarter QCaaS subscription revenue rose 50% year over year to $1.9 million, while professional services revenue increased more than 18% to about $900,000. Systems and other revenue was approximately $300,000, primarily tied to installation and site-preparation activities for a previously announced $20 million system sale to Florida Atlantic University.

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D-Wave’s AT&T Deal Shows Quantum Computing Is Moving Beyond TheoryBookings increased 59% from a year earlier to $2.1 million in the quarter, while the average booking size rose more than 87%, according to Chief Financial Officer John Markovich. The company recognized revenue from about 100 customers, with commercial enterprises accounting for 62.4% of revenue, up from 45.1% a year earlier. Forbes Global 2000 customers represented 47.7% of quarterly revenue, compared with 20.4% in the prior-year quarter.

Losses Rise as Company Invests in Development and Sales D-Wave posted a second-quarter net loss of $48 million, or $0.13 per share, compared with a net loss of $167.3 million, or $0.55 per share, a year earlier. The narrower net loss was primarily driven by a $142 million decline in non-cash, non-operating charges related to the remeasurement of its former warrant liability. The company redeemed all of its remaining publicly traded warrants in November 2025.

D-Wave Quantum or a Quantum ETF: Which Is the Better Bet?Adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $37.1 million from $20 million in the prior-year quarter. Markovich said the increase reflected higher personnel-related spending to support accelerated product development and go-to-market initiatives.

GAAP gross profit declined 14% to $1.7 million, and gross margin fell to 55.4% from 63.8%, which the company attributed primarily to increased personnel costs.

For the first six months of 2026, revenue was $5.9 million, down 67% from $18.1 million in the first half of 2025. The prior-year period included $13.7 million of revenue from D-Wave’s first annealing quantum computer system sale. First-half bookings, however, climbed to $35.5 million from $2.9 million, including the $20 million Florida Atlantic University system order.

Remaining performance obligations, or backlog, totaled $40.7 million as of June 30, up 668% from a year earlier. D-Wave said about 57% of that balance is expected to be recognized as revenue within 12 months and 72% within two years.

Production Applications Gain Greater Share of QCaaS Revenue Chief Executive Officer Alan Baratz said the company now has six customer applications in production and is seeing broader interest from large enterprises. More than 37% of first-half QCaaS revenue, or $1.3 million, came from production business applications, compared with 9.8%, or about $300,000, in the first half of 2025.

D-Wave highlighted several customer deployments during the call:

AT&T expanded its agreement with D-Wave to apply annealing quantum computing to network optimization. D-Wave said one early application reduced processing time from about one hour to less than 15 seconds. AT&T plans to assess further uses involving outage response, technician routing, network planning and traffic management. Optum, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, moved from an initial proof-of-technology effort directly into a production application for optimization problems involving thousands of variables and hundreds of thousands of constraints. Baratz said the application had run about 30,000 jobs by mid-June after launching in May. NTT Docomo used D-Wave technology in mobile-network optimization applications. The company said one deployment reduced paging signals by 15%, while another reduced location-registration signals by about 65% and paging signals by 7% during peak periods. Baratz said the company’s QCaaS pipeline is expanding and that D-Wave is closing larger deals with larger companies. He also said roughly 25% to 30% of current discussions involve business units directly or bring business units into conversations early, compared with none a year ago.

Gate-Model Roadmap and Annealing System Plans D-Wave also detailed progress on its gate-model quantum computing program following its acquisition of Quantum Circuits earlier this year. The company announced peer-reviewed research published in Nature describing a two-qubit entangling gate on an eight-qubit dual-rail processor. According to Baratz, the research demonstrated approximately 99.9% fidelity in two-qubit operations with gate times of about 500 nanoseconds.

The company expects to deliver a 17-physical-qubit dual-rail system later in 2026, followed by a 49-physical-qubit system in 2027 and a 181-physical-qubit system in 2028. D-Wave said the systems are designed to demonstrate progressively lower logical error rates. Its longer-term roadmap calls for a 10-logical-qubit system in 2030 and a system with 100 logical qubits and more than 1 million reliable operations by 2032.

Baratz said D-Wave expects to make a gate-model simulator available through its Leap quantum cloud platform later this year. The company said the simulator is intended to support error-aware quantum programming based on the expected behavior of its dual-rail architecture.

On the annealing side, D-Wave reiterated plans for a 20,000-qubit Advantage 3 system in 2029 and a 100,000-qubit system in 2031. The company also expects to ship two annealing quantum computer systems in 2026, likely during the fourth quarter.

Outlook and Liquidity Markovich said third-quarter revenue is expected to rise modestly from second-quarter levels, while fourth-quarter revenue should increase significantly from the third quarter and account for the majority of 2026 revenue. The timing reflects expected fourth-quarter system shipments and the subsequent installation and calibration work, some of which may carry into 2027.

As of June 30, D-Wave had $546.2 million in cash and marketable investment securities, down from $819.3 million a year earlier. More than 90% of the decrease was related to approximately $250 million in cash consideration paid for the Quantum Circuits acquisition, the company said.

About D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ:QBTS)D-Wave Quantum Inc NYSE: QBTS develops and provides quantum computing systems, software and services focused on quantum annealing technology. Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, D-Wave designs specialized processors that leverage quantum mechanics to solve complex optimization and sampling problems. Since its founding in 1999 by physicists including Geordie Rose, the company has pursued the development of commercially viable quantum hardware and accompanying software tools.

The company’s product portfolio centers on its quantum annealers, which are complemented by hybrid solvers that integrate classical and quantum computing resources.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

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Key Takeaways For QBTS, focus will be on bookings conversion, enterprise demand & progress after Quantum Circuits buyout. RGTI is expected to benefit from Novera deliveries, Cepheus-1 adoption and broader cloud platform activity.Both companies face high expectations. Continued R&D and commercialization spending may dampen profits. With IonQ (IONQ - Free Report) scheduled to release its second-quarter 2026 results today after market close, investor attention will next shift to D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) and Rigetti Computing (RGTI - Free Report) , both set to report June-quarter results tomorrow.

The key question is whether the two pureplay quantum computing players can deliver results and business updates that validate their strong stock performance during the quarter. QBTS and RGTI shares surged 75.1% and 43.1%, respectively, in the April-June period, significantly outperforming the 26.6% gain in the Computer and Technology sector and the 14.6% advance in the S&P 500 index.

April-June Stock Comparison: QBTS, RGTI
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

For D-Wave, key focus areas include bookings conversion, remaining performance obligations, enterprise demand and progress following the Quantum Circuits acquisition. For Rigetti, investors will closely monitor revenue recognition from Novera system deliveries, customer traction for its 108-qubit Cepheus platform, cloud usage and execution against its technology roadmap, while assessing whether management's commentary supports sustained commercial momentum into the second half of 2026.

D-Wave earnings missed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and topped on one occasion, the average negative surprise being 351.22%.

On the contrary, Rigetti earnings topped estimates in each of the trailing four quarters with an average surprise of 29.17%.

How Are Q2 Estimates Poised for D-Wave and Rigetti?QBTS: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the second-quarter bottom line has widened by one cent to a loss of 9 cents per share over the past seven days. However, the estimated figure indicates an 83.6% improvement from the year-ago figure.

The consensus mark for second-quarter revenues is pegged at $3.82 million, indicating a 23.2% year-over-year increase.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

RGTI: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the second-quarter bottom line has remained unchanged at a loss of 3 cents per share over the past 60 days. The estimated figure indicates a 40% narrower loss from the year-ago figure.

The consensus mark for second-quarter revenues is pegged at $4.91 million, indicating a 173% year-over-year increase.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

What to Expect from D-Wave Quantum's Q2 ResultsD-Wave Quantum entered the second quarter of 2026 with strong commercial momentum after reporting record first-quarter bookings of $33.4 million and remaining performance obligations (RPO) of $42.4 million. This was largely supported by a $20 million system sale and a $10 million enterprise quantum computing-as-a-service agreement. Management indicated second-quarter revenues would be modestly higher sequentially, with a substantial portion of 2026 revenues expected in the second half as system deliveries progress. We expect bookings conversion, revenue recognition from system sales, RPO growth and enterprise adoption to act as crucial factors behind the second-quarter results.

Operationally, D-Wave continued expanding its dual-platform strategy following the Quantum Circuits acquisition, while advancing its gate-model roadmap and commercialization of its annealing systems. Progress in blockchain, AI-related customer deployments and additional system sales are expected to contribute to second-quarter top-line numbers of QBTS. However, continued investments in R&D, sales expansion and integration activities are likely to keep profitability under pressure despite improving business fundamentals.

What to Expect From Rigetti’s Q2 ResultsRigetti started the second quarter with improving commercial execution and continued technology milestones. First-quarter revenues nearly tripled year over year, driven by Novera quantum processing unit (QPU) deliveries, while management indicated that most of the remaining revenues from the previously announced Novera purchase orders would be recognized in the second quarter. The execution of these system deliveries, adoption of the newly launched 108-qubit Cepheus-1 platform and customer activity across Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services, Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum and qBraid are expected to have contributed to RGTI’s Q2 performance.

Management also reiterated its focus on improving system fidelity while maintaining a disciplined investment strategy supported by a debt-free balance sheet. Continued spending on R&D, fabrication and infrastructure, however, is likely to have weighed on near-term profitability as Rigetti prioritizes long-term technology leadership over short-term earnings.

What the Zacks Model Unveils for QBTS and RGTI StocksQBTS: Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for D-Wave this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here.

D-Wave has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

RGTI: Rigetti has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3. This combination also can't conclusively predict an earnings beat tomorrow.

Our TakeD-Wave and Rigetti head into their second-quarter earnings releases with solid operational momentum, but elevated expectations following their strong April-June stock rallies, which leave little room for disappointment. D-Wave's bookings conversion, enterprise demand and commercialization progress are the crucial factors this time, while Rigetti's execution on Novera system deliveries, cloud adoption and technology roadmap will remain key.

Although both companies continue to invest aggressively in R&D and commercialization, near-term profitability is likely to remain under pressure. While D-Wave's Zacks Rank reflects its stronger fundamental outlook, that of Rigetti suggests investors may prefer waiting for further evidence of sustained execution following its recent rally.

Shares of the quantum computing company D-Wave Quantum (QBTS +9.26%) plunged last month as investors grew increasingly skeptical that big bets in the tech sector would pay off, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Shares of D-Wave fell 24.6% in July, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. And if the recent sell-off is any indication, D-Wave's shares could remain volatile for a while.

Image source: Getty Images.

Investors are concerned about spending Tech investors have been increasingly worried that all of the spending that's happening in the sector won't be worth the cost.

One of the best examples of this came last month, when Alphabet reported its second-quarter results, saying that capital expenditures would rise to $205 billion this year and would likely be higher next year. The spending sent Alphabet's free cash flow into negative territory for the first time in more than two decades.

Alphabet's stock fell after the company released its quarterly results, as investors lost faith that the company's bets in AI are worth the cost. And while D-Wave isn't an AI company, its shares suffered the same fate in July because investors took a similar view that D-Wave's bets on quantum computing won't pay off.

D-Wave reported a net loss of $18.4 million in the first quarter and had just $2.9 million in revenue. And its costs are rising, too, with research and development spending more than doubling to nearly $26 million, and its General and Administrative costs surging 150% to over $20 million.

Investors are looking around and seeing costs rise for tech companies, and they're beginning to question whether holding shares is worth the risk.

D-Wave isn't escaping this sentiment, especially considering that the stock is very expensive, with a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 496, compared to the tech sector average P/S ratio of about 6.

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More insight coming, but volatility could be ahead D-Wave will report its second-quarter results on Aug. 6, and analysts' consensus estimates are expecting sales of about $43 million, a 75% increase from the year-ago quarter.

But investors will likely be more focused on D-Wave's spending, and with the company still unprofitable and its shares trading for such a high premium, it's not wrong for them to be skeptical.

It's difficult to say how long investors might remain skeptical of unprofitable tech companies. But it appears that a real shift is underway away shareholders in what they expect from companies.

All of which means that D-Wave's shares could remain volatile in the near term as shareholders question whether waiting around for quantum computing profits is worth the risk.

Shares of D-Wave Quantum (QBTS -9.51%) jumped Monday morning on the announcement that AT&T (T +1.35%) is expanding its use of the company's quantum computing technology across its network operations. This is excellent news in a rough year for D-Wave's stock, which is down more than 26% in 2026.

So should investors buy D-Wave Quantum's stock now? 

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This new agreement with AT&T expands on a pilot program that demonstrated D-Wave's annealing quantum computing cut processing time for a network optimization workload by 240x, from approximately one hour to 15 seconds.

Ultimately, this result with AT&T could catalyze D-Wave as other companies take notice of the real-world results from the pilot program. The quantum computing industry as a whole could use a boost, having largely lost investor enthusiasm this year after a 2025 run-up.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

D-Wave's stock is still highly speculative and volatile. The commercial applicability of quantum commuting is largely unknown and untested. This nod of credibility from AT&T should help. Investors in D-Wave need to proceed with patience and caution, however, as the company has relatively little revenue compared to its losses.

On the positive side, D-Wave has more than $42 million in remaining performance obligations (RPO), a 563% year-over-year increase. The AT&T deal, paired with this jump in RPOs, could signal real traction for D-Wave's technology.

With the stock down significantly in 2026, risk-tolerant long-term investors willing to tolerate continued volatility may see the AT&T deal as the cue to climb aboard.

Catie Hogan has positions in AT&T. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Takeaways D-Wave raised its outlook to 2-3 system deals annually, with at least 2 deliveries expected this year.QBTS posted $33.4M Q1 bookings as its sales pipeline and average potential deal size more than doubled.QBTS expects multiyear service, maintenance and cloud contracts to add recurring revenue after system sales. D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) , or D-Wave, continues to see growing interest in its Advantage2 annealing quantum computer system. During the May 2026 earnings call, management raised its annual outlook for system sales, now expecting to close 2 or 3 system deals per year, with at least 2 system deliveries anticipated this year.

The stronger outlook comes on the back of record first-quarter bookings of $33.4 million, up 1,994% from the year-ago quarter and 149% from the fourth quarter of 2025. More than two dozen commercial customers accounted for more than 31% of quarterly bookings, while educational and research organizations made up the rest.

The largest transaction was the $20 million annealing quantum computer system sale to Florida Atlantic University in January, which D-Wave views as an important collaboration to further quantum computing experimentation and innovation. During the first quarter of 2026, the dollar value of the company’s sales opportunity pipeline more than doubled from the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, while the average potential deal size also more than doubled over the same period.

Management noted that system sales typically involve multiple stages, such as site preparation, delivery, installation and calibration, before customers begin using the systems. While a significant portion of revenues is recognized when a system is delivered, additional revenues are recognized over time as installation and calibration activities progress.

D-Wave also expects most system transactions to include multiyear revenue components, such as service and maintenance contracts, as well as access to its cloud service. These recurring streams expected to complement revenue generated from the initial system sales.

QBTS’ Peer UpdatesAstera Labs (ALAB - Free Report) has announced a significant expansion of its Taiwan operations and Cloud-Scale Interop Lab. This deepens ALAB’s engineering and operational footprint, and strategic coordination with customers and ecosystem partners in one of the world’s most important semiconductor ecosystems. In collaboration with several AI platform providers, Astera Labs will strengthen the validation and system integration work required to bring purpose-built AI infrastructure to market faster.

Arista Networks (ANET - Free Report) has announced a new portfolio of 1.6T networking platforms designed specifically as the foundation for rack-scale AI infrastructure. The 7060XE7 Series represents Arista’s transition from providing high-performance switches to delivering comprehensive rack-scale systems. By addressing the extreme density, power and thermal efficiency requirements of the AI era, these platforms of ANET enable customers to build scale-up and scale-out AI fabrics optimized for air, liquid and hybrid-cooled environments, maximizing compute density per kilowatt of power.

QBTS’ Price Performance, Valuation & EarningsYear to date, QBTS shares have declined 30.1% compared with the industry’s 4.5% fall.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

D-Wave is trading at a forward, five-year Price/Sales (P/S) of 103.29X, significantly higher than its 16.25X median and the industry average of 4.06X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for D-Wave’s 2026 and 2027 loss per share has remained constant in the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

D-Wave currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Key Takeaways D-Wave was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape Worldwide Quantum Computing 2026 Vendor Assessment.QBTS reported 200M submitted problems, with Advantage2 usage up 314% year over year.D-Wave's roadmap targets 10 logical qubits by 2030 and 100 logical qubits by 2032. D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) , or D-Wave, has been recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Quantum Computing 2026 Vendor Assessment. The evaluation assessed vendors based on both their existing capabilities and future strategies. According to the company, the recognition comes as organizations increasingly seek practical quantum solutions that can be integrated into existing enterprise and high-performance computing environments.

The report highlighted several of D-Wave’s strengths, such as its broad production deployment footprint, spanning operational manufacturing, telecommunications, retail, logistics, defense, and research computing workflows. D-Wave submitted more than 200 million problems to its systems. The usage of its Advantage2 system grew 314% year over year, while the Stride hybrid solver usage expanded 114% over the six months as of early 2026.

IDC also highlighted that the company’s enterprise accessibility and hybrid adoption framework, including the Leap cloud platform, Ocean SDK, the Stride hybrid solver and the Leap Quantum LaunchPad onboarding program. These tools help organizations to apply quantum-assisted optimization to problems involving up to 2 million variables without requiring dedicated quantum programming expertise. Beyond optimization, IDC recognized D-Wave’s active effort to extend quantum annealing into scientific computing domains relevant to materials science, electronics, medical imaging, and physical systems modeling.

Another highlight was D-Wave’s roadmap, which includes both continued scaling of quantum annealing systems and expansion into gate-model quantum computing. Key roadmap milestones for the gate-model program include the completion of a 10-logical-qubit system by 2030, which can support the first fault-tolerant algorithms, and completion of a 100-logical-qubit system by 2032, which can support initial quantum chemistry and quantum AI applications.

IDC noted that D-Wave’s dual-platform strategy broadens its long-term opportunity to address a wider range of enterprise workloads as the market evolves.

Key Developments Among QBTS PeersQualcomm Inc. (QCOM - Free Report) recently announced a strategic multi-generation collaboration with Meta to be a supplier for data center CPUs for the latter. Qualcomm Technologies’ data center CPU, the Qualcomm DragonflyC1000, is planned to power Meta’s next-generation server fleet, highlighting the growing importance of high-performance, power-efficient compute in large-scale, scale-out environments. The company’s solutions will be in production starting in the second half of 2028 for future data center capacity expansions.

Intel (INTC - Free Report) has unveiled innovations at Computex 2026 that address customers’ chip-to-systems-level AI needs with solutions tailored to address their specific industry challenges. The company announced rackscale AI infrastructure for customers interested in scaling their inference and agentic workloads based on Intel Xeon processors and SambaNova SN-50 Reconfigurable Dataflow Units. Intel also announced strategic collaborations with Foxconn, Siemens, Hitachi, Echo Neurotechnologies and Greenstone Biosciences to deliver integrated vertical customer solutions based on Intel processors and purpose-built silicon.

The Zacks Rundown for QBTS StockOver the past 12 months, QBTS shares have risen 32.1% against the industry’s 15.6% decline. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

D-Wave is trading at a forward, one-year Price/Sales (P/S) of 116.55X, lower than its 169.78X median but significantly above the industry average of 3.89X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Take a look at how estimates for D-Wave’s 2026 and 2027 earnings are shaping up.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

D-Wave currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Key Takeaways D-Wave unveiled an error-aware gate-model quantum simulator to advance fault-tolerant computing.D-Wave targets 100 logical qubits and 1M successful operations by 2032 using dual-rail architecture.D-Wave's simulator supports up to 21 qubits with error detection and real-time control tools. D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) , or D-Wave, recently announced its forthcoming gate-model quantum computing simulator, a move that expands its gate-model roadmap designed to accelerate the development of commercial, fault-tolerant quantum computing. Detailed at the inaugural Investor Day earlier this month, the roadmap targets 100 logical qubits capable of successfully performing over 1 million operations by 2032 through scalable superconducting dual-rail architecture and quantum error correction.

The stimulator is expected to be the first of its kind designed for error-aware programming, with access scheduled to begin in September 2026. Built around D-Wave’s dual-rail technology, it is designed to give developers greater visibility into errors, helping them design applications and workflows that respond to real processor behavior.

By combining error detection and real-time control, the simulator will give developers new tools and data to better understand quantum behavior, prototype quantum applications and error-correction routines and explore more advanced workflows.

Once available through D-Wave's Leap cloud platform, the simulator will offer a quantum programming toolkit with error-aware capabilities, including tools for modeling quantum processor behavior, error detection and real-time control. It will support up to 21 qubits, include ideal and hardware emulation modes, Monte Carlo simulation of real-time quantum system dynamics and integration with familiar development tools, including the company’s Ocean SDK.

D-Wave also plans to introduce quantum development bundles that will provide access to its forthcoming gate-model quantum simulator and systems. These will include Starter and Premium packages, with monthly access allocations and guidance from D-Wave’s expert team. The company says the bundles are designed to support a range of customer needs, from initial exploration to more advanced research and development.

Updates From QBTS PeersQuantum Computing Inc. (QUBT - Free Report) or QCi announced the completion of acquiring NHanced Semiconductors, Inc. for a combination of cash and QCi stock valued at $73.1 million, subject to customary adjustments, and up to an additional $72.0 million if certain performance targets are achieved. The acquisition marks an important step in QCi’s transition from research-driven innovation and prototyping to scalable commercial production. By adding semiconductor and nanophotonics fabrication capabilities, advanced packaging expertise and specialized engineering talent, QCi is strengthening its operational capabilities and manufacturing readiness.

C3 AI (AI - Free Report) announced that Shell Information Technology International B.V. is extending its long-standing collaboration with the company across its global operations. C3 AI has worked with Shell since 2018 to deploy and operate an enterprise-scale predictive maintenance program. Under a new multi-year agreement, Shell will extend its deployment of C3 AI Reliability to enhance its operations, extending predictive maintenance capabilities beyond equipment anomaly detection. 

QBTS’ Price Performance, Valuation & EarningsIn the past three months, QBTS shares have risen 58.6%, far above the industry’s 4.8% growth.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

D-Wave is trading at a forward, five-year Price/Sales (P/S) of 130.99X, significantly higher than its median and the industry average.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Estimates for D-Wave’s 2026 and 2027 loss per share have steadily narrowed over the past 90 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

D-Wave currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.