By Mackenzie Tatananni
Hot on the heels of IonQ's first-quarter earnings report, several other quantum computing companies are slated to post results this week. The raw numbers may not be the main event.
That may sound counterintuitive, but earnings from the companies come with a standard caveat: investors should expect continued losses ahead of broader commercialization. For pure-play quantum computing companies, the real value lies in technical milestones and physical expansion -- the primary indicators of progress in an otherwise unprofitable sector.
Both D-Wave Quantum and Rigetti Computing, two of the "original pure plays," are slated to report earnings this week along with smaller player, New Jersey-based Quantum Computing. In recent years, Quantum Computing has faced leadership instability and skepticism regarding its Arizona foundry, which is intended to produce thin-film lithium niobate chips for quantum systems.
Xanadu Quantum Technologies, a relative newcomer to the public markets, is expected to report earnings after the bell Thursday. Xanadu made its trading debut in March, and currently is one of the smallest public players: Its market capitalization hovered around $680 million as of Friday.
But many of these companies are scaling fast, and the latest financial results likely will reflect a focus on innovation over immediate profit. After a monthslong delay, Rigetti announced the general availability of its Cepheus-1-108Q system at the start of April. The company likely will highlight the launch in its earnings report, slated for after the closing bell Monday.
Meanwhile, D-Wave is deepening its expansion into gate-based systems. CEO Alan Baratz told Barron's the company expects to generate "quantum computing-as-a-service" revenue from these models by 2026, a move he said will "essentially double the total addressable market."
And investors soon may have another way to play the theme. Honeywell-owned Quantinuum filed a registration statement for its proposed initial public offering on Friday. The development should come as no surprise to many readers: Barron's reported on the upcoming IPO in March 2025, after a source confirmed Quantinuum could go public sometime between 2026 and 2027.
In some ways, the narratives matter more than the hard numbers. Quantinuum's looming IPO signals that the hype will continue past 2025, which proved to be a watershed year in terms of advancement toward large-scale, commercially viable systems.
Quantum isn't for everyone, and it's up to investors to determine their own tolerance for risk. It can be difficult to forecast future stock moves. IonQ, the largest pure play by market capitalization, has a beta value of 2.63, indicating shares are considerably more volatile than the broader market, which has a beta of 1 by definition.
And while IonQ has outpaced the market this year, Rigetti and D-Wave have traded in the red after posting big gains in 2025. What goes up eventually comes down, and the reversal suggests investor enthusiasm -- rather than fundamental value -- was the primary driver of prior gains.
But the stocks and the industry at large have momentum. Investing in quantum means buying into a rapidly changing, emergent field of technology. What's compelling isn't the hype, but the tangible progress every year that serves to further its legitimacy.
Global recognition of the technology as a national priority is the clearest sign yet that it has moved beyond a niche market. In March, China unveiled its 15th Five-Year Plan targeting the widespread availability of quantum systems by 2030.
Earnings reports allow investors to refine their strategies based on individual company performance. As the industry segments into winners and losers, shaky results from some players shouldn't be a reason to write off the industry entirely.
Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 11, 2026 10:53 ET (14:53 GMT)
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