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Quantum-computing stocks may suit long-term investors who can tolerate substantial uncertainty, volatility and the possibility of losing money—but a long time horizon does not make an unproven business or an expensive stock suitable. Assess each company’s commercial traction, losses and cash needs, customer exposure, technology execution, competition and valuation. A quantum-themed ETF can spread exposure across issuers, but it cannot remove sector or market risk.
What long-term investors need to distinguish
Quantum computing’s technical promise and a stock’s investment potential are separate questions. A working system, technical milestone, partnership, backlog or increase in revenue does not by itself establish a durable business, recurring profits or an attractive share price. Investors need to assess both whether a company can commercialize its technology and whether the price of its shares reasonably reflects a range of possible outcomes.
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The public companies discussed here illustrate why revenue alone is not enough. D-Wave and IonQ reported revenue for fiscal 2025, alongside substantial losses. These are historical issuer-reported results, not forecasts, and they do not establish what either company’s shares are worth today.
Questions to compare before investing
1. Is revenue recurring and commercially meaningful?
Look beyond a headline revenue figure. Identify what customers paid for, whether sales are repeatable, and how much revenue comes from systems, cloud access, services, research or government work. D-Wave describes cloud quantum-computing-as-a-service through Leap, professional services and system sales as revenue routes. These routes may have different sales cycles, margins and prospects for repeat business.
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Keep recognized revenue separate from bookings, backlog, customer announcements and management targets. Those measures may offer context, but they are not interchangeable with revenue already earned, cash collected or profit.
2. Can the company fund its plans?
Read operating and net losses alongside operating cash flow, cash and investments, debt and other obligations, expected spending, and the possibility of raising more capital. A large cash balance is not the same as profitability, and it does not guarantee a particular runway or investment return. Financing through new shares can dilute existing shareholders; debt can add obligations.
| Company and reporting period | Revenue | Operating loss | Net loss | Cash, cash equivalents and investments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D-Wave Quantum Inc., FY2025; company Form 10-K, 2025 | $24.6 million | $100.4 million | $355.1 million | Not stated here (D-Wave Quantum Inc., 2025 Form 10-K) |
| IonQ, Inc., FY2025; company results, 2026 | $130.0 million | Not stated here (IonQ, Inc., FY2025 results, 2026) | $510.4 million | $3.3 billion as of December 31, 2025 (IonQ, Inc., FY2025 results, 2026) |
The figures are issuer-reported and come from different companies’ reporting materials. They should not be treated as a direct ranking: revenue scale, cash, and losses have to be interpreted in context, including spending, cash flow, obligations and each company’s business mix. The cash figure is a balance on the stated date, not a forecast of how long it will last.
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Check how much revenue depends on a small number of customers, public-sector awards or contracts that must be renewed. Procurement timing, contract changes and a lost major customer can affect a company disproportionately when its customer base is concentrated. Rigetti’s FY2025 filing flags customer concentration and reliance on public-sector contracts as risks. The information summarized here does not provide a comparable concentration figure for all the companies named.
4. Is technical progress translating into useful systems?
Compare a company’s architecture and modality, systems actually available to customers, meaningful performance measures, scaling and error-correction progress, and delivery against prior roadmap milestones. Ask whether a performance claim is a company disclosure or has independent validation, and whether the measure is relevant to customer use.
Rigetti’s FY2025 filing describes its 36-qubit Cepheus-1-36Q system and related performance characteristics. A qubit count on its own does not demonstrate commercial advantage: it does not establish that a system is useful, economical, reliable at scale or superior for a customer’s workload. The filing’s specifications are company disclosures, not independent testing presented here.
5. Who else can meet the same need?
Competition includes other quantum architectures, large technology and cloud companies, research organizations, development-stage firms and classical computing approaches. A company may face competition not only on technical performance but also on usability, software, compatibility, price, partnerships and financial resources. Rigetti’s FY2025 filing identifies these kinds of competitive factors. Investors should consider whether a company has a credible market fit, not just whether its technology is distinctive.
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Suitability cannot be judged from technology or operating results alone. Compare market value with current revenue, losses, balance-sheet resources, potential dilution and plausible commercial outcomes. A business can make technical progress and still be a poor investment at a price that assumes too much success. Current prices and valuation measures are not provided here, so no conclusion about any named stock’s present valuation follows from these examples.
What the company examples do—and do not—show
D-Wave Quantum (QBTS)
D-Wave’s 2025 Form 10-K describes annealing and gate-model systems, Leap cloud access, professional services and system sales. Its FY2025 financial results appear in the table above. The combination of reported sales and losses makes it important to investigate the source and repeatability of revenue, spending and financing needs; the figures alone do not forecast future performance.
IonQ (IONQ)
IonQ’s FY2025 results report revenue, net loss and a dated cash, cash equivalents and investments balance in the table above. The company also reported a midpoint for 2026 revenue guidance. That midpoint is management’s forward-looking expectation, not achieved revenue or a guarantee of future results; investors should compare later actual results with the guidance when available.
Rigetti Computing (RGTI)
Rigetti’s FY2025 filing provides company disclosures about the Cepheus-1-36Q system and identifies customer concentration, public-sector reliance and competitive pressures as risks. Those disclosures help frame diligence questions, but they do not establish that its performance is commercially superior or that a particular share price is justified.
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Quantum Computing Inc.’s 2025 Form 10-K identifies QUBT as its Nasdaq-listed common stock. That confirms listing identity only; it does not establish business quality, commercial traction, technology performance or suitability. A substantive comparison requires the company’s relevant operating, financial and technology disclosures for the reporting period being assessed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Choose an investment route with its trade-offs in mind
| Route | Potential role | Risks and checks |
|---|---|---|
| Large technology companies that invest in quantum computing | Quantum activity may be one part of a broader business. | The quantum contribution may be small relative to the rest of the company, so the stock may not provide focused exposure to quantum commercialization. |
| Public pure-play companies | Business outcomes may be more directly tied to quantum commercialization. | Company-specific technology, execution, financing and customer risks can have a larger effect on the investment. |
| Thematic ETF, such as Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM) | A fund can hold multiple issuers, potentially reducing reliance on any one company. | It retains market and sector risk, as well as fund-specific risks. Review the current official holdings, strategy, costs, liquidity and fund documents; holdings can change. |
Kiplinger’s May 2026 coverage described QTUM as a route to quantum-related exposure and reported Rigetti and D-Wave among holdings alongside larger companies. That is a dated secondary account, not confirmation of current holdings. Check the fund issuer’s current materials before relying on its composition or terms.
When might the risk fit a long-term portfolio?
There is no universally suitable quantum stock or allocation. Consider the investment only in the context of your broader portfolio, time horizon, liquidity needs and ability to absorb a substantial loss. A long holding period may give a business more time to develop, but it cannot ensure that the company succeeds, avoids dilution or delivers returns that justify its share price.
- Can you tolerate a large decline or the possibility of losing your investment?
- Do you understand what the company sells and what evidence shows that customers will keep buying it?
- Have you examined cash use, obligations and potential financing needs rather than relying on revenue or a cash headline?
- Can you distinguish company-reported technical claims and forward guidance from independently validated performance and achieved results?
- Have you checked the current valuation, and, for an ETF, its official holdings and fund terms?
This is general information, not an individualized investment recommendation. Company filings and results can change with new reporting, while prices and ETF holdings are time-sensitive; consult current issuer and fund disclosures when making an assessment.
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