D-Wave and Rigetti Are Down Big This Year. Their Q3 Reports Must Answer the Cash Burn Question
Two quantum stocks have lost more than half their value this year, and both report on the same day. One company's own guidance sets a simple test, and a rival's single quarter dwarfs them both.
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Shares of D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ:QBTS) are down 62.0% year to date, and Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) has lost 50.2%. Both report Tuesday, and each has to show that revenue growth can justify its cash burn.
D-Wave Quantum reports before the market opens on November 10 and holds a webcast at 8:00 a.m. ET. Rigetti Computing reports after the close on November 10 and holds its call at 5:00 p.m. ET. In Monday premarket trading, D-Wave stood at $10.68 and Rigetti at $11.58. Over the past year they’re down 63.6% and 64.5%, respectively.
Consensus Sets Up a Two-Report Day
| Metric | D-Wave | Rigetti |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 EPS consensus | Loss of $0.0988 | Loss of $0.0513 |
| Q3 2025 EPS | Loss of $0.05 | Loss of $0.03 |
| Q3 2026 revenue consensus | $4,337,120 | $3,675,950 |
| Implied YoY revenue growth | 16.0% | 88.8% |
| Revenue analysts | 16 | 12 |
| FY2026 EPS consensus | Loss of $0.2971 | Loss of $0.1870 |
| FY2026 revenue consensus | $42,471,240 | $23,259,000 |
| Implied FY revenue growth | 72.7% | 228.1% |
D-Wave Must Turn Record Bookings Into Revenue
Second-quarter revenue of $3.08 million missed expectations by 23.6%. First-half bookings rose to $35.5 million, and backlog reached $40.7 million. Management guided for third-quarter revenue “up modestly” from Q2. It expects most of the year’s revenue in Q4, when two annealing systems ship.
Cash and investments fell to $546.2 million, mostly because of the roughly $250 million Quantum Circuits acquisition. The adjusted EBITDA loss grew to $37.1 million. D-Wave Quantum’s first-quarter release said, “D-Wave’s combination of commercial proof, technical breadth, and a differentiated path to gate-model error correction and scaling will be increasingly prominent as this market matures.” IonQ (NYSE:IONQ | IONQ Price Prediction) CEO Niccolo De Masi said IonQ “extended our multi-year collaboration with D-Wave” at SkyWater. Monitor new deals, operating expenses, and whether the 17-qubit gate-model system remains on schedule for this year.
Rigetti’s Revenue Beats Face a Lumpy Quarter
Rigetti missed revenue estimates in all four 2025 quarters. It then exceeded consensus with $5.14 million in Q2 2026, up 185.3% year over year. Management expects to recognize the $8.4 million C-DAC system order in Q4. Rigetti Computing’s Q2 release said its collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center “reflects growing demand for our approach.”
Liquidity came to $541.3 million with no debt, while capital spending rose to $12.0 million. Look for the targeted 99.5% two-qubit fidelity and any progress on the Commerce letter of intent for up to $100 million. That deal would require issuing equity.
IonQ Shows How Wide the Scale Gap Has Grown
De Masi reported IonQ third-quarter revenue of $173.8 million. That one quarter exceeds the full-year 2026 revenue consensus for D-Wave and Rigetti combined. Jensen Huang of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) said, “Quantum computer is not the next big thing, but it is a big thing.” Jordi Visser said on The Pomp Podcast that “Quantum is a hardware issue.” Steve Grasso said on CNBC’s Fast Money that the rest of the group is “solving it, not the whole quantum space. And they burn a ton of cash.” (Names like these belong in the speculative segment of a portfolio, and we laid out the sizing and exit rules for that segment in a free guide here: Small Stakes, Big Swings.)
What Counts as a Win Tuesday
D-Wave needs bookings beyond the Florida Atlantic University deal and confirmation that both Q4 system shipments are still on track. Rigetti needs to stay on its C-DAC timeline and hold operating cash outflow close to Q2’s $15.78 million. One test is simple to check: D-Wave’s revenue has to come in above $3.08 million, or management’s own guidance falls short.
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Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.
Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community.
Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.
Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions.
