By Mackenzie Tatananni
Rigetti Computing's first-quarter earnings report earned a quiet reception on Monday as the quantum computing company paired a revenue beat with a steady hand on its technical road map.
The Berkeley, Calif.-based company posted an adjusted loss of 4 cents a share, in line with FactSet estimates. Revenue tripled from the prior year to $4.4 million, outstripping analysts' calls for $4.09 million.
Shares slipped 1.5% in after-hours trading. The stock ended Monday's session up 8.3% amid a broader rally in quantum stocks ahead of what will be a big earnings week. Peers IonQ and D-Wave Quantum also closed higher, up 15% and 6.5%, respectively.
Still, a fairly muted stock reaction is preferable to a selloff. The stability likely stems from a lack of surprises in the report, which highlighted the previously announced launch of Rigetti's Cepheus-1-108Q system.
The system is live across platforms including Amazon Braket and Microsoft Azure Quantum, as well as Rigetti's own cloud service, according to CEO Subodh Kulkarni. The system's release in April capped off months of uncertainty. Rigetti originally had delayed the timeline in January to allow for further technical refinements.
And further improvements are on the way. The company expects the system to reach a median 99.5% two-qubit gate fidelity, a measure of the accuracy and reliability of quantum operations, later this year.
Rigetti ended the first quarter with what it called a "strong cash position" and zero debt, leaving more room to invest in strategic initiatives and development of its systems.
Cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments reached $5.69 million as of the end of the quarter, representing of 87% of total assets. This compares with $5.9 million, 0r 88% of total assets, in the same period last year.
For a company like Rigetti, strong liquidity is critical. It operates at a significant loss, with expenses far outstripping revenue, and has not yet reached annual profitability.
Rigetti posted a $26 million operating loss in its latest quarter, slightly wider than $22 million loss reported last year. The bulk of that amount, nearly $20 million, went to research and development.
At the same time, Rigetti is looking to scale its operations, including through a $100 million investment in the United Kingdom "to accelerate quantum computing development." The money will support the deployment of a quantum computer in the region in the next three to four years, Rigetti said.
This upcoming system will feature over 1,000 physical qubits -- a longstanding milestone on Rigetti's road map. At this scale, it will be more than nine times as large as the 108-qubit Cepheus system.
Rigetti's road maps have proven to be fluid. While the company initially targeted a 1,000-qubit system by 2024 or 2025, technical challenges and supply chain constraints forced a more realistic realignment.
It's no longer a pure numbers game for the company. Rather than targeting raw qubit count, the company has shifted its focus to fidelity-driven scaling, ensuring its hardware reaches specific performance benchmarks before increasing system size.
Just ask management. "Our focus remains reaching true commercially meaningful quantum advantage, not headline milestones," Kulkarni said on the last earnings call.
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 17:49 ET (21:49 GMT)
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