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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights D-Wave Quantum and Rigetti Computing

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 21, 2026 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: D-Wave Quantum (QBTS - Free Report) and Rigetti Computing (RGTI - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

2 Quantum Stocks to Watch in May with 90%+ Target Price Potential

Despite months of volatility driven by elevated interest rates, tighter capital markets and concerns surrounding delayed commercialization timelines, pure-play quantum computing stocks are rapidly returning to investors' radar in May 2026.

This favorable momentum is particularly notable because it is happening even as inflation remains elevated and macroeconomic uncertainty persists. U.S. consumer inflation accelerated to 3.8% in April 2026 from 3.3% in March, while core inflation climbed to 2.8%, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Energy prices remained a major inflationary driver amid geopolitical tensions and higher oil prices.

Despite this challenging backdrop, a major reason behind the renewed momentum is the improving risk appetite across the broader technology market. Massive AI infrastructure spending, resilient technology earnings and growing enthusiasm surrounding next-generation computing platforms are once again driving capital toward speculative innovation areas, including pure-play quantum stocks. Investors are increasingly focusing on long-term commercialization opportunities, strategic partnerships and expanding enterprise adoption rather than near-term profitability pressures.

Here we have picked two pure-play quantum computing players, D-Wave Quantum and Rigetti Computing, which are witnessing a significant increase in short-term price targets in May 2026, backed by accelerating commercial adoption trends, improving investor sentiment toward speculative spaces, expanding enterprise and government contracts and growing confidence in the long-term commercialization potential of quantum computing platforms.

2 Pure-Play Quantum Stocks With Over 90% Price Upside Targets

D-Wave: Investor sentiment toward D-Wave Quantum has strengthened considerably in recent weeks despite the company continuing to post losses and operate in a highly capital-intensive environment. This is being driven primarily by accelerating commercial traction and unprecedented booking growth.

In its first-quarter 2026, D-Wave reported quarterly bookings representing nearly 2,000% year-over-year growth, even as revenues declined due to the absence of a large one-time system sale recorded in the prior-year quarter. The company also ended the quarter with cash and marketable securities totaling $588.4 million, significantly improving investor confidence regarding liquidity and long-term expansion capabilities.

Customer adoption is increasing across logistics, manufacturing, government and artificial intelligence optimization applications, where quantum annealing systems are already demonstrating practical commercial utility. The company also noted growing momentum in its gate-model quantum computing initiatives following the Quantum Circuits acquisition.

D-Wave currently carries an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.33 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents Strong Buy and 5 indicates Strong Sell. Notably, the current ABR has improved from 1.44 a month ago, reflecting strengthening analyst confidence.

Brokers Rating Breakdown-QBT

Based on short-term price targets offered by 13 analysts, the average price target of QBTS represents an increase of 90.87% from the last closing price of $19.06. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Rigetti: In its first-quarter 2026 results, Rigetti reported revenue growth of 198.9% year over year, driven primarily by on-premises Novera QPU deployments and related contracts. The company ended the quarter with a strong cash and investment position of $569 million and no debt, significantly strengthening investor confidence regarding its long-term funding runway.

The company noted the successful general availability launch of its 108-qubit Cepheus-1-108Q system across Rigetti QCS, Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum and qBraid, calling it one of the most powerful generally available gate-based quantum computers in the industry. Investors are also encouraged by Rigetti's expanding government, academic and commercial customer base.

RGTI currently carries an ABR of 1.75. Notably, the current ABR compares with 1.69 a month ago. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Brokers Rating Breakdown-RGT

Based on short-term price targets offered by 10 analysts, the average price target of RGTI represents an increase of 94.24% from the last closing price of $15.96.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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