The three major players in the U.S. quantum computing space—D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS), Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI), and IonQ Inc. (NYSE: IONQ)—reported first-quarter earnings within days of each other in May 2026. This gives investors a chance to easily compare three firms vying to be the go-to name in this fast-growing industry. IonQ reported first, with Rigetti and D-Wave following.
Investors hoping for a clear winner in this three-way race might be disappointed, as each firm had some strengths and faced some glaring obstacles in the first three months of the year. All three also saw their share prices decline immediately following their earnings releases. Below, we take a closer look at how each of these companies stacks up heading into the midway point of 2026.
Rigetti: Big Sales Growth, Lots of Cash, But Mounting Expenses
One of the biggest highlights from Rigetti's Q1 2026 earnings was its sizable revenue growth. The firm reported $4.4 million in revenue, nearly triple the $1.5 million that it generated in the prior-year period. Sales of the company's Novera QPU system helped to drive this growth. On top of year-over-year (YOY) gains in Q1, Rigetti also highlighted expected Novera sales in Q2 and a major system sale in Q4 later this year.
While the revenue growth is impressive, in absolute terms, Rigetti still has very modest sales, especially for a company valued at more than $6 billion. This issue, however, plagues the broader pure-play quantum computing space.
D-Wave may be known as the quantum player with lots of excess cash on hand, but this quarter, Rigetti demonstrated that it also has money to spend. It ended Q1 with about $569 million in cash and equivalents, which should allow the company to invest up to $100 million in the United Kingdom. Carrying no debt also means that Rigetti may be poised for significant expansion and R&D boosts.
The company's shares plunged following earnings, perhaps related to its sizable increase in operating expenses. At $27.3 million for the quarter, these are much larger than sales, presenting a profitability challenge that Rigetti has yet to overcome.
D-Wave: Negative Headline, But Some Bright Spots Beneath
D-Wave may come out on the bottom in some ways for Q1 2026. The only one of these three companies to post YOY declines in sales, D-Wave experienced an 80% collapse in revenue to $2.9 million. This may not be as concerning as it appears, though, given that last year's sales were boosted by a single large system sale.
However, this points to the fickle nature of the quantum space so far, in which single big-ticket sales can have a drastic impact on results for years to come.
More promising is D-Wave's recurring revenue via its quantum-computing-as-a-service (QCaaS), which is growing quickly and could help the company find a path to profitability. The firm's cash holdings remain strong as well, even after its high-profile purchase of Quantum Circuits Inc., with some $588 million at quarter's end. Management did not signal intentions to continue the company's buying spree, choosing instead to emphasize that they believe the company is fully funded in its path to profitability (although the timeline for achieving profitability remains unclear).
IonQ: Biggest Sales Growth, But Losses Are a Concern
On the surface, IonQ had perhaps the best quarterly report of all of these firms. 755% YOY revenue improvement and a solid raise to full-year guidance were two standout pieces of information from the release. The company posted $64.7 million in revenue for the quarter, more than an order of magnitude larger than either of the two competitors above.
IonQ seems to be several steps ahead in terms of its capacity to generate sales. With management now expecting a high end of $270 million in revenue for the fiscal year, IonQ is poised to accelerate sales growth even more.
Once again, though, profitability is a problem. Along with the big sales gains came widening adjusted losses per share, which more than doubled to 34 cents from 15 cents this time last year. Losses from operations are also mounting. One bright spot here is IonQ's commercial customer business, which is now driving a majority of revenue, and as an added bonus, customers are tending more and more to buy multiple products. On top of that, a full third of the company's sales are to international customers, so it may have an advantage over rivals in that regard as well. Nonetheless, despite these promising achievements, IonQ also faces some of the same hurdles as the companies above.
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The article "How the 3 Leading Quantum Firms Stack Up After Q1 Earnings" first appeared on MarketBeat.
