IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS), and Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) have each fallen sharply in 2026, yet revenue acceleration and sovereign contracts are building a case for major recoveries.
Quantum computing has become the speculative wing of the broader AI trade, and all three pure-play names are down significantly year to date despite improving fundamentals.
IonQ trades at $31.99, representing a 28.71% decline year to date and a steep retreat from its 52-week high of $84.64.
Wall Street’s average price target on IonQ sits at $68.41, backed by 11 Buy or Strong Buy ratings, with a bold target of $60 implying roughly 88% upside from current levels.
The company reported Q1 2026 revenue of $64.67 million, a staggering 755% year-over-year increase, prompting management to raise full-year 2026 guidance to between $260 million and $270 million.
CEO Niccolo de Masi called it “the biggest quarter in our company’s history,” pointing to the first 256-qubit sale to the University of Cambridge and a $39 million Space Development Agency contract as major milestones.
D-Wave Quantum sits at $17.11, down 38.13% year to date, with the sell-side carrying an average target of $37.05 and 14 Buy or Strong Buy ratings supporting the stock.
Q1 bookings for D-Wave exploded to $33.4 million, anchored by a $20 million Florida Atlantic University system, even as reported quarterly revenue of $2.86 million appeared modest on the surface.
CEO Alan Baratz stated that D-Wave is “the only quantum computing company pursuing both annealing and gate-model” following its acquisition of Quantum Circuits, giving it a differentiated competitive position heading into 2027.
With $588.4 million in cash and a roadmap to 175 qubits in 2027, D-Wave offers patient investors a runway measured in years rather than quarters.
Rigetti Computing trades at $13.73, down 40.32% year to date, against a Wall Street consensus target of $29.65, with a $25 price target implying approximately 82% upside.
Rigetti’s Q1 revenue nearly tripled to $4.40 million, supported by Novera QPU sales and the deployment of its 108-qubit Cepheus-1-108Q system across AWS Braket, Azure Quantum, and qBraid.
CEO Subodh Kulkarni highlighted “improved two-qubit gate fidelity across both monolithic and chiplet-based systems” and guided toward significant first-quarter year-over-year revenue growth continuing into the year.
A planned $100 million UK investment targeting a 1,000-qubit system, combined with an $8.4 million C-DAC order deploying in the second half of 2026, sets up meaningful near-term catalysts for Rigetti.
Goldman Sachs has noted that pledged investments in “AI, semiconductors, quantum computing, space, advanced medicine, and cybersecurity” remain a defining theme of 2026, providing macro tailwinds for all three names.
Risks remain real across the group, including dilution, ongoing cash burn, and the continued absence of fault-tolerant qubit systems at commercial scale.
Each of the three stocks has previously crossed 80% annual return thresholds in single years, suggesting such moves are within historical range given the right catalysts.
With sovereign demand rising and revenue trajectories inflecting upward, the blueprint for outsized 2027 returns across IonQ, D-Wave, and Rigetti is increasingly visible to investors willing to hold through volatility.
