Despite significant market corrections, Wedbush maintains buy ratings on three major quantum computing stocks - IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum. According to reports from Wedbush, the investment firm continues to rate these companies as buy despite all three stocks experiencing sharp declines this month. IonQ has dropped 36% to $34.07, Rigetti has fallen 24% to $14.85, and D-Wave has declined 26% to $17.10. However, these buy ratings date back to spring 2025 and have not been updated since the recent market downturn. The broader market context shows FTSE 100 futures called 40 points lower amid tech selling and oil prices topping $100 per barrel for the first time in months.
D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) stock jumped over 20% on Monday after AT&T signed an agreement to expand the use of the company's quantum computing technology across its network operations. The telecom giant announced plans to apply D-Wave's annealing quantum systems to complex optimization challenges, with early results showing one network optimization workload dropping from roughly one hour to under 15 seconds. AT&T will first layer the technology into agentic artificial intelligence tools that already reduced customer downtime by 12 million hours in 2025. Broader applications may include outage detection and response, technician routing, network build planning, and traffic management. AT&T is also evaluating D-Wave's upcoming gate-model systems for quantum security and communications, with financial terms not disclosed.
IonQ reported impressive first-quarter results with revenue jumping 755% to $64.7 million and order backlog rising 554% to approximately $470 million. As reported by Wedbush, the company holds roughly $3.1 billion in cash and recently sold its first 256-qubit quantum computer to the University of Cambridge. Despite the significant stock decline, analysts maintain buy ratings with Rosenblatt near $100, Wedbush at $75, and Northland at $70, though these targets were established in May and June. The company's put-call ratio collapsed from 2.69 on July 16 to 0.45 by July 23, indicating options traders turned sharply bullish, while Chaikin Money Flow remained negative near -0.46, suggesting institutional selling pressure.
Rigetti Computing secured $100 million from the US Department of Commerce over three years in exchange for a small ownership stake, as reported by Wedbush. The company also launched its 108-qubit quantum computer, Cepheus-1, on major cloud platforms. While coverage remains thin, buy ratings near $40 from Rosenblatt and Wedbush persist without downgrades. The stock's put-call ratio fell from 1.09 on July 16 to 0.48 on July 23, showing clear bullish options sentiment, though Chaikin Money Flow remained negative near -0.24, contradicting the optimism on the screen. The broader market pressure from Brent crude dropping from over $101 to below $97 in recent trading highlights the challenging environment for technology stocks.
Industry experts are increasingly optimistic about quantum computing's practical applications, with Charles Edwards, founder of Capriole Investments, arguing that AT&T's results confirm quantum technology is used today rather than being future technology. Daniela Herrmann, CEO and co-founder of quantum computing firm Dynex, noted how expectations keep collapsing - from 30 years in 2024 to 15-20 years in 2025, and then to 3-5-10 years in 2026. The crypto industry follows these advances closely, as falling qubit requirements could eventually threaten Bitcoin's cryptography. D-Wave, founded in 1999 as the first company to sell commercial quantum computers, now serves more than 100 organizations across business, government, and research sectors.
