STOCKS | D-Wave Rises as Rigetti Falls After Divergent Quantum Earnings

D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) shares rose more than 2% on Wednesday morning, while Rigetti Computing (RGTI) fell more than 4% after the companies reported third-quarter results. According to Sina Finance, Rigetti dropped after reporting a larger-than-expected adjusted loss and quarterly revenue well below analyst estimates; D-Wave also missed consensus earnings estimates but reported higher revenue and a sharp increase in bookings. Rigetti reported an adjusted loss of $0.06 per share, versus expectations of $0.05, and revenue of $1.4 million, below the roughly $3.5 million consensus estimate. D-Wave reported an adjusted loss of $0.13 per share, compared with analysts’ estimate of $0.10, while revenue rose 21% year over year to $4.5 million and bookings increased 611% year over year. Other quantum-related stocks, including IonQ (IONQ), Infleqtion (INFQ) and Quantinuum (QNT), briefly rose at the open before turning volatile in early trading. In September this year, the U.S. Department of Commerce signed funding agreements worth up to $100 million with each company under the CHIPS Act. The funds will be disbursed only after the companies meet specified milestones and other conditions. Rigetti President and CEO Subodh Kulkarni said the two companies had mentioned on earnings calls earlier this year that they had signed letters of intent with the department to advance research and development in three key areas for scaling superconducting quantum computing and addressing practical system bottlenecks. Both stocks have fallen this year: Rigetti is down nearly 47% year to date, and D-Wave is down 59%. After the quarterly results, Rosenblatt analyst John McPeake lowered D-Wave’s price target, citing the timing of hardware revenue recognition and a slower-than-expected ramp-up in its quantum computing as a service (QCaaS) business.