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IonQ's Quantum Drive Faces Valuation Risk as QBTS, RGTI Advance
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Key Takeaways
IonQ doubled R&D year over year to $66.3M in Q3 2025, hitting AQ 64 Tempo early and 99.99% gate fidelity.
IONQ says R&D-led scale supports land-and-expand model, larger contracts, global reach and funding in 2026.
RGTI delivered a 36-qubit system, India MOU, Air Force contract and $5.7M orders, showing peer momentum.
IonQ’s (IONQ - Free Report) growth trajectory reflects a strategy of sustained R&D investment paired with organic expansion across computing, networking, sensing and security. In the third quarter of 2025, management emphasized that research and development remains the company’s largest operating priority, with R&D spend rising to $66.3 million in the quarter and nearly doubling year over year. These investments are directly tied to advancing IonQ’s core technology roadmap, including the early completion of the AQ 64 Tempo system, the integration of Oxford Ionics’ Electronic Qubit Control architecture and the 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity achieved on a chip-based platform compatible with existing semiconductor supply chains.
IonQ highlighted the scaling of its internal engineering teams following the Oxford Ionics acquisition, execution across product generations and continued hiring to improve expertise in computing, networking, sensing and cybersecurity. The company also expanded geographically, with leadership appointments in Europe and a growing international revenue mix, while maintaining a strong U.S. government and defense focus through IonQ Federal.
Management underscored that these R&D-led investments are enabling a “land and expand” commercial model, supporting larger, solutions-based contracts and repeatable revenue streams. Backed by a strengthened balance sheet and significant capital raises in 2025, IonQ has entered 2026 in a position to continue funding innovation internally while scaling its quantum platform organically.
Peer Update
D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) : The company hosted its Qubits 2025 user conference in Scottsdale, where customers, partners and executives shared use cases, roadmap updates and advancements in hybrid quantum solvers and optimization applications. The company also held its first Qubits Japan 2025 event in Tokyo to support growing regional adoption of annealing quantum technology. D-Wave announced its participation at CES 2026, where it planned to spotlight its commercial quantum systems and hybrid-quantum capabilities to broader tech audiences.
Rigetti Computing (RGTI - Free Report) : The company advanced its hardware and partnerships in 2025, emphasizing both technological milestones and strategic collaborations. Rigetti announced the general availability of its 36-qubit multi-chip quantum computer, Cepheus-1-36Q, which delivered improved performance and reduced error rates as part of its chiplet-based scaling approach. Rigetti also signed an MOU with India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to explore co-development of hybrid quantum computing systems.
In addition, Rigetti was awarded a three-year, $5.8 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory to advance superconducting quantum networking technologies. It also secured purchase orders for Novera 9-qubit systems totaling approximately $5.7 million, underscoring its early commercial traction.
IONQ's Price Performance
Over the past six months, IONQ’s shares have gained 9.8%, underperforming the industry’s 54.2% growth. The S&P 500 composite has grown 13.2% in the same period.
IONQ 6-Month Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Expensive Valuation
IonQ currently trades at a forward 12-month Price-to-Sales (P/S) of 86.9X compared with the industry average of 4.8X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
IONQ Stock Estimate Trend
In the past 30 days, its loss per share estimate has narrowed by 6 cents for 2025.
Image: Bigstock
IonQ's Quantum Drive Faces Valuation Risk as QBTS, RGTI Advance
Key Takeaways
IonQ’s (IONQ - Free Report) growth trajectory reflects a strategy of sustained R&D investment paired with organic expansion across computing, networking, sensing and security. In the third quarter of 2025, management emphasized that research and development remains the company’s largest operating priority, with R&D spend rising to $66.3 million in the quarter and nearly doubling year over year. These investments are directly tied to advancing IonQ’s core technology roadmap, including the early completion of the AQ 64 Tempo system, the integration of Oxford Ionics’ Electronic Qubit Control architecture and the 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity achieved on a chip-based platform compatible with existing semiconductor supply chains.
IonQ highlighted the scaling of its internal engineering teams following the Oxford Ionics acquisition, execution across product generations and continued hiring to improve expertise in computing, networking, sensing and cybersecurity. The company also expanded geographically, with leadership appointments in Europe and a growing international revenue mix, while maintaining a strong U.S. government and defense focus through IonQ Federal.
Management underscored that these R&D-led investments are enabling a “land and expand” commercial model, supporting larger, solutions-based contracts and repeatable revenue streams. Backed by a strengthened balance sheet and significant capital raises in 2025, IonQ has entered 2026 in a position to continue funding innovation internally while scaling its quantum platform organically.
Peer Update
D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) : The company hosted its Qubits 2025 user conference in Scottsdale, where customers, partners and executives shared use cases, roadmap updates and advancements in hybrid quantum solvers and optimization applications. The company also held its first Qubits Japan 2025 event in Tokyo to support growing regional adoption of annealing quantum technology. D-Wave announced its participation at CES 2026, where it planned to spotlight its commercial quantum systems and hybrid-quantum capabilities to broader tech audiences.
Rigetti Computing (RGTI - Free Report) : The company advanced its hardware and partnerships in 2025, emphasizing both technological milestones and strategic collaborations. Rigetti announced the general availability of its 36-qubit multi-chip quantum computer, Cepheus-1-36Q, which delivered improved performance and reduced error rates as part of its chiplet-based scaling approach. Rigetti also signed an MOU with India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to explore co-development of hybrid quantum computing systems.
In addition, Rigetti was awarded a three-year, $5.8 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory to advance superconducting quantum networking technologies. It also secured purchase orders for Novera 9-qubit systems totaling approximately $5.7 million, underscoring its early commercial traction.
IONQ's Price Performance
Over the past six months, IONQ’s shares have gained 9.8%, underperforming the industry’s 54.2% growth. The S&P 500 composite has grown 13.2% in the same period.
IONQ 6-Month Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Expensive Valuation
IonQ currently trades at a forward 12-month Price-to-Sales (P/S) of 86.9X compared with the industry average of 4.8X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
IONQ Stock Estimate Trend
In the past 30 days, its loss per share estimate has narrowed by 6 cents for 2025.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
IonQ stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.