IonQ (NYSE:IONQ)which develops trapped-ion quantum computers and related software, closed Thursday at $40.88, up 21.70%. The stock moved higher after fourth-quarter results and 2026 revenue expectations beat expectations. A major deployment of a European quantum network was also announced, and investors are looking to see how continued demand and backlog growth support the long-term quantum roadmap.
Trading volume was 66.4 million shares, approximately 234% higher than the three-month average of 19.9 million shares. IonQ went public in 2021 and has grown by 279% since its IPO.
The broader markets retreated on Thursday, with the S&P500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) a decline of 0.53% to 6,909 and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) fell by 1.18% to 22,878. Among quantum computer peers is D-wave quantum (NYSE:QBTS) closed at $20.14 (+2.49%) and Quantum computers (NASDAQ: QUBT) ended at $9.04 (+4.15%), showing a more modest gain than IonQ.
IonQ tripled revenue to $130 million by 2025. The company expects growth to continue, leading investors to expect revenue of about $235 million by 2026, which could send IonQ shares soaring.
However, the valuation remains a question for investors and analysts. A market cap of $14.5 billion implies a sharp increase in revenue, and achieving profitability is also built into the stock price.
The company is working toward that goal by rolling out large-scale, operational quantum networks in several European countries this quarter. It also announced plans to acquire SkyWater Technology, a leading quantum chip foundry, to help build its platform.
Before you buy shares in IonQ, consider the following:
The Motley Fool stock advisor The analyst team has just identified what they think is the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and IonQ wasn’t one of them. The ten stocks that survived the cut could deliver monster returns in the coming years.
Think about when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you had $1,000 invested at the time of our recommendation, you would have $445,995!* Or when Nvidia created this list on April 15, 2005… if you had $1,000 invested at the time of our recommendation, you would have $1,198,823!*
It’s worth mentioning Stock advisors total average return is 927% – a market-crushing outperformance compared to 194% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available at Stock Advisorand join an investment community built by individual investors for individual investors.
