Law firms launched a putative securities fraud class action against D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS) in October 2026, targeting investors who bought shares between February 26 and August 25 of the same year.
The suits allege that D-Wave overstated both its business prospects and its ability to deliver quantum computing systems, adding legal pressure to an already battered stock.
Despite the accusations, the company still trades at a staggering 362 times its trailing twelve-month sales, a valuation that implies investors expect a dramatic and rapid scaling of revenue from current levels.
For context, the S&P 500 trades at roughly 3.2 times sales, making D-Wave’s multiple more than 100 times that of the broader market benchmark.
The company’s financial performance over the past year has done little to justify that premium, with revenue for the twelve months ending June 2026 falling to $12.4 million from $22.3 million in the prior comparable period.
At the same time, operating losses ballooned to $171 million from $78.7 million, with management attributing the widening adjusted EBITDA loss largely to higher staff costs tied to accelerated product development and sales efforts.
A distorted quarterly comparison amplified the damage in early 2026, when first-quarter revenue dropped 80.9% year-over-year because the year-earlier period had included roughly $15 million in sales, more than the subsequent three quarters of 2025 combined.
QBTS shares have shed 65.4% over the twelve months to October 27, 2026, a period during which the S&P 500 gained 13.6%, leaving a gap of nearly 80 percentage points between D-Wave and the broader market.
D-Wave was not alone in its decline, as Rigetti Computing fell 69% and IonQ dropped 48% over the same stretch, reflecting a sector-wide retreat from quantum computing names after a period of frenzied enthusiasm.
Whole-system sales have been the primary revenue engine, accounting for $16.2 million of the company’s $24.6 million in total fiscal 2025 revenue, and management is again banking on hardware deliveries to rescue its 2026 numbers.
Two annealing quantum computer systems are expected to ship before year-end, both in the fourth quarter, including one destined for Florida Atlantic University, with management projecting that Q4 will represent the bulk of 2026 revenue.
One meaningful bright spot is a signed contract backlog that reached $40.7 million at the end of June 2026, a sharp jump from just $5.3 million recorded at the same point a year earlier.
D-Wave’s balance sheet also provides a buffer against the mounting losses, with $546 million in cash and short-term investments as of June 30, 2026, against debt of only $48.1 million.
That cash position is more than four times the $120 million in free cash flow the company consumed over the twelve months ending in June, giving it meaningful runway even as losses accumulate.
Investors and analysts will focus on the company’s third-quarter 2026 results, expected in November, to assess whether system shipments and contract conversion are finally beginning to translate into durable top-line growth.
