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D-Wave and Rigetti Are Down Big This Year. Their Q3 Reports Must Answer the Cash Burn Question
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Shares of D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ:QBTS) are down 62.0% year to date, and Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) has lost 50.2%. Both report Tuesday, and each has to show that revenue growth can justify its cash burn.

D-Wave Quantum reports before the market opens on November 10 and holds a webcast at 8:00 a.m. ET. Rigetti Computing reports after the close on November 10 and holds its call at 5:00 p.m. ET. In Monday premarket trading, D-Wave stood at $10.68 and Rigetti at $11.58. Over the past year they’re down 63.6% and 64.5%, respectively.

Consensus Sets Up a Two-Report Day Metric D-Wave Rigetti Q3 2026 EPS consensus Loss of $0.0988 Loss of $0.0513 Q3 2025 EPS Loss of $0.05 Loss of $0.03 Q3 2026 revenue consensus $4,337,120 $3,675,950 Implied YoY revenue growth 16.0% 88.8% Revenue analysts 16 12 FY2026 EPS consensus Loss of $0.2971 Loss of $0.1870 FY2026 revenue consensus $42,471,240 $23,259,000 Implied FY revenue growth 72.7% 228.1% D-Wave Must Turn Record Bookings Into Revenue

Second-quarter revenue of $3.08 million missed expectations by 23.6%. First-half bookings rose to $35.5 million, and backlog reached $40.7 million. Management guided for third-quarter revenue “up modestly” from Q2. It expects most of the year’s revenue in Q4, when two annealing systems ship.

Cash and investments fell to $546.2 million, mostly because of the roughly $250 million Quantum Circuits acquisition. The adjusted EBITDA loss grew to $37.1 million. D-Wave Quantum’s first-quarter release said, “D-Wave’s combination of commercial proof, technical breadth, and a differentiated path to gate-model error correction and scaling will be increasingly prominent as this market matures.” IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) CEO Niccolo De Masi said IonQ “extended our multi-year collaboration with D-Wave” at SkyWater. Monitor new deals, operating expenses, and whether the 17-qubit gate-model system remains on schedule for this year.

Rigetti’s Revenue Beats Face a Lumpy Quarter

Rigetti missed revenue estimates in all four 2025 quarters. It then exceeded consensus with $5.14 million in Q2 2026, up 185.3% year over year. Management expects to recognize the $8.4 million C-DAC system order in Q4. Rigetti Computing’s Q2 release said its collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center “reflects growing demand for our approach.”

Liquidity came to $541.3 million with no debt, while capital spending rose to $12.0 million. Look for the targeted 99.5% two-qubit fidelity and any progress on the Commerce letter of intent for up to $100 million. That deal would require issuing equity.

IonQ Shows How Wide the Scale Gap Has Grown

De Masi reported IonQ third-quarter revenue of $173.8 million. That one quarter exceeds the full-year 2026 revenue consensus for D-Wave and Rigetti combined. Jensen Huang of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) said, “Quantum computer is not the next big thing, but it is a big thing.” Jordi Visser said on The Pomp Podcast that “Quantum is a hardware issue.” Steve Grasso said on CNBC’s Fast Money that the rest of the group is “solving it, not the whole quantum space. And they burn a ton of cash.” (Names like these belong in the speculative segment of a portfolio, and we laid out the sizing and exit rules for that segment in a free guide here: Small Stakes, Big Swings.)

What Counts as a Win Tuesday

D-Wave needs bookings beyond the Florida Atlantic University deal and confirmation that both Q4 system shipments are still on track. Rigetti needs to stay on its C-DAC timeline and hold operating cash outflow close to Q2’s $15.78 million. One test is simple to check: D-Wave’s revenue has to come in above $3.08 million, or management’s own guidance falls short.

 

Disclaimer:This article represents the opinion of the author only. It does not represent the opinion of Webull, nor should it be viewed as an indication that Webull either agrees with or confirms the truthfulness or accuracy of the information. It should not be considered as investment advice from Webull or anyone else, nor should it be used as the basis of any investment decision.
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