Three Quantum Stocks to Watch: IONQ, RGTI and HQ Earnings Review

Quantum computing is a strange beast.

On the one hand, it is routinely held up as the next great investment opportunity. 

On the other, as a technology, it remains many years away from being truly useful in a large-scale, commercial sense. Meanwhile, even the most prominent quantum companies are spending money hand over fist, with no immediate prospects of becoming profitable.

This represents a conundrum for investors, who are forced to price a technology where the payoff window is long, but the narrative moves on a quarterly cadence. 

On that note, following on from their recent earnings calls, this analysis examines three stocks from across the quantum spectrum: IonQ [IONQ], the pace-setting incumbent; Rigetti Computing [RGTI], the industrial challenger; and Horizon Quantum [HQ], the emerging disruptor. Unpacking their respective prints reveals a lot about their individual trajectories, as well as that of the sector as a whole. 

IonQ: The incumbent

IonQ is focused on building and commercialising trapped-ion quantum systems, with growing access via major cloud platforms. IonQ’s Q1 2026 results on 6 May marked a step-up in commercial traction. Revenue reached a record $64.7m, up 755% year-on-year, and remaining performance obligations rose to $470m, up 554%.

Management framed the quarter as evidence of widening platform demand. CEO Niccolo de Masi pointed to broader adoption across IonQ’s quantum offering, while CFO Inder Singh highlighted the scale and durability of the expanding contracted backlog.

Importantly, the mix is improving: around 60% of revenue came from commercial customers, with more than a third generated from clients using multiple IonQ products.

Guidance was raised to $260m-270m for FY 2026, reflective of management confidence in continued conversion of backlog into revenue. However, with EBITDA losses still expected to exceed $300m in 2026, the investment case remains heavily dependent on execution.

Overall, the quarter strengthens the narrative shift toward a more platform-like business, but the key test now is whether IonQ can sustain multi-product adoption and translate its rapidly growing contracted base into durable, profitable scale.

Barring a post-earnings wobble, it seems that investors are warming to IONQ stock once again, after a major drop-off earlier in the year. Shares are up 9.9% in the year to date, as of 18 May.

Rigetti: The challenger

Reporting on 11 May, Rigetti’s Q1 2026 results highlighted an earlier-stage commercial profile than IonQ’s.

Revenue for the quarter was $4.4m, versus IonQ’s $64.7m. Rigetti reported a $26.0m operating loss, with a non-GAAP net loss of $14.7m, while GAAP net income of $33.1m was driven by non-cash items rather than operational profitability. Its strength is in the balance sheet: $569m in cash, equivalents and investments with no debt, providing a significant runway to fund development. 

Strategically, Rigetti advanced its 108-qubit Cepheus-1-108Q system into general availability across major cloud platforms, positioning it as its most advanced modular system to date. The chiplet-based architecture was presented as validation of its scaling approach. Management also pointed to growing adoption across government, academic and commercial users, including on-premises Novera deployments, though this remains more fragmented and research-led than IonQ’s emerging multi-product enterprise usage.

The company’s proposed $100m UK investment targeting a 1,000+ qubit system is indicative of long-term ambition, but remains highly forward-looking. Overall, Rigetti is progressing technologically, but relative to IonQ it remains earlier in commercial scaling, with execution risk centred on translating architecture leadership into revenue generation.

RGTI stock began to fall after the earnings call and has remained on a downward trajectory since. As of 18 May, it is down 24.97% year-to-date.

Horizon Quantum: The disruptor

Horizon develops quantum software. It reported earnings on 5 May, not long after going public on 20 March. It logged a narrower Q1 2026 net loss of $3.6m, or $0.09 per share, improving from a $4.8m loss a year earlier, as the company continued to prioritise long-term platform development over near-term profitability. The result came despite a 38% rise in operating expenses to $6.5m, tied to ongoing investment in headcount and capabilities.

The improvement in bottom line was driven in part by cost dynamics within R&D, which fell 36% y/y to $2.13m, largely due to lower share-based compensation, even as broader strategic hiring and capability build-out continued. 

Overall, the financial profile corresponds to a company still firmly in investment mode, with losses narrowing due more to expense composition than revenue scaling. Management emphasised continued focus on strengthening its quantum software stack and advancing early access users toward a future cost-per-use commercial model.

Balance sheet strength remains a key support, with a cash position of $96.6m providing runway for ongoing R&D and platform development. The company also highlighted its Nasdaq listing as an important structural milestone, supporting visibility and access to capital.

It is, of course, early days, but HQ stock is down 5.33% since its public debut.

Quantum quant: IONQ vs RGTI vs HQ

This is how the three stocks currently compare.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Taken together, the three earnings reports map a clear hierarchy within the quantum computing trade.

IonQ is at the most advanced stage of commercialisation, with meaningful revenue scale, rapidly expanding backlog and early signs of platform-style adoption across multiple products. It is still loss-making, but increasingly behaves like a commercial software-hardware hybrid rather than a pure R&D bet.

Rigetti occupies the middle ground, exhibiting technological progress and strong liquidity, but limited revenue scale and a customer base still anchored in research and early deployments. It is ambitious, but monetisation remains the key bottleneck.

Horizon Quantum, by contrast, is at the earliest stage of the trio, with sub-$5m revenue-equivalent economics and losses driven by continued investment in software capability and organisational build-out. Its appeal is structural and option-like rather than operational.

For investors, the implication is less about identifying a single winner today and more about positioning along a spectrum of maturity versus optionality, where each name offers a different exposure to the adoption curve for quantum advantage.

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