Wedbush, a major US investment firm, maintains buy ratings on three leading quantum computing stocks even as institutional investors quietly exit their positions. This month alone, these stocks plunged between 24% and 36%, a sharp correction that contrasts with the firm’s unchanged optimistic outlook from earlier this year.
IonQ Leads in Market Cap but Faces Selling Pressure
IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) dropped 36% to $34.07, far from its peak near $85, yet it remains the largest quantum player with a market value around $12.7 billion. The company reported a remarkable 755% revenue increase in Q1, hitting $64.7 million, and a backlog of $470 million, signaling strong demand. IonQ also secured a milestone sale of its 256-qubit quantum computer to the University of Cambridge.
Despite these numbers, analyst targets from Rosenblatt ($100), Wedbush ($75), and Northland ($70) remain from May and June, untouched by recent price drops. Dan Ives, a prominent former Wedbush analyst, sees IonQ as a play on the AI surge and expects government involvement, though these themes are somewhat dated. Interestingly, options traders have turned bullish, as shown by IonQ’s put-call ratio falling from 2.69 to 0.45 in one week.
However, Chaikin Money Flow data reveals heavy institutional selling, with a negative score near -0.46. This divergence suggests short-term optimism from traders but sustained exit by larger investors. One market watcher noted unprecedented options sentiment above 70, hinting at unusual activity.
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) also took a hit, down 24% to $14.85. It relies more heavily on government funding, having recently secured $100 million from the US Department of Commerce for a three-year project. The company launched its 108-qubit Cepheus-1 quantum computer on major cloud platforms but sees limited analyst coverage. Buy ratings near $40 from Rosenblatt and Wedbush have not been revised despite the drop.
