IonQ

Everyone wants to own quantum computing stocks. Companies like IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) are up hundreds of percent in the last year, with the aforementioned stock now at a market cap of $25 billion while generating less than $100 million in revenue. Quantum computing could drive huge gains in productivity if the technology is ever commercialized, but today, IonQ is a highly speculative company with little to no business model. This makes it an incredibly risky stock to own.

Here are two stocks not betting on a speculative science fiction future, but creating value in the present. Both Remitly Global (RELY -3.13%) and Portillo’s (PTLO -2.76%) will be larger than IonQ in five years’ time. Here’s why you should add them to your portfolio over any quantum computing stock.

Remitly’s disruptive opportunity

Remitly Global has moved in the opposite direction from IonQ in 2025. Shares of the remittance provider are off 42% from highs set earlier in 2025, while IonQ is up 78% year to date (YTD) and just reached a new all-time high.

Investors are nervous about Remitly because of the immigration crackdown in the United States, which may reduce cross-border payments from the United States to Mexico and other Latin American countries. This is Remitly’s core business as a mobile disruptor to the legacy players, such as Western Union. Fears are also rising due to a new tax on remittance payments, although it is just a 1% tax and likely not to greatly impact payment flows.

Despite these worries, Remitly has posted strong growth throughout 2025. Revenue was up 34% year over year last quarter, with 40% growth in send volume. Not only is Remitly completely disregarding immigration fears for remittance demand, but it is also taking a ton of market share from legacy players due to its low fees and easy-to-use mobile application.

What’s more, Remitly is starting to get profitable. On $1.46 billion in trailing revenue, the business generated an earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $27 million, with plenty of room to increase its operating leverage over time. Compare that to IonQ with minimal revenue and huge operating losses, and Remitly looks like a company that should have a larger market cap than any quantum computing stock.

Image source: Getty Images.

Portillo’s expansion plans

Portillo’s is a restaurant chain that sells Chicago-style street food, such as hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. It has begun to expand to other markets such as Texas and Florida with average success, as some of its restaurant volumes have been hit by a broad slowdown in consumer spending at restaurants in 2024 and 2025.

Despite this, Portillo’s is poised to grow substantially in the years ahead. It is planning to slowly grow its presence in new states around the country, bringing this beloved Chicago brand to a national stage. Last quarter, Portillo’s posted just 3.6% annual revenue growth, but that is due to the fact that its new store openings are going to be weighted to the back half of 2025. With the company planning to have just around 100 restaurant locations at the end of this year, there is still a huge runway for the concept to expand to new metropolitan areas in the United States.

Portillo’s has a market cap of just $464 million today. Investors may look at this market capitalization compared to IonQ and think it is impossible for the restaurant operator to surpass the $25 billion stock within five years. But let’s truly compare the underlying financials to show why IonQ is grossly overvalued at its current price.

Over the last 12 months, Portillo’s generated $65 million in EBIT on $728 million in revenue. IonQ generated just $53 million in revenue and lost $351 million (it has never been profitable). Portillo’s may not surpass a $25 billion market cap in five years, but it will be larger than IonQ because IonQ does not deserve anything close to a $25 billion valuation.

Buy Remitly and Portillo’s. Avoid IonQ and other quantum computing stocks. Your portfolio will thank you five years from now.

For the better part of the last three years, seemingly nothing has sparked investor interest quite like the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI). Empowering software and systems with the tools to make split-second decisions without human intervention, as well as to become more proficient at their tasks over time, is viewed as a game-changing technology for most industries around the globe.

Over the last three decades, there’s pretty much always been a next-big-thing trend or technology to captivate the attention and capital of Wall Street and investors. Prior to AI, there was the advent of the internet, genome decoding, nanotechnology, 3D printing, blockchain technology, and the metaverse, to a name a few key trends.

But in rare instances of outsize optimism on Wall Street, two or more game-changing trends can coexist, as we’re witnessing now with the dual rise of AI and quantum computing.

Image source: Getty Images.

The four biggest pure-play quantum computing stocks — IonQ (IONQ 0.46%), Rigetti Computing (RGTI 5.30%), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS 2.00%), and Quantum Computing (QUBT -0.81%) — have rallied between 700% to 5,130%, respectively, over the trailing year (as of Oct. 3). Though optimism is readily apparent, there’s no denying that the time to be fearful when others are greedy has arrived for these four stocks.

What is quantum computing, and why are investors so excited about it?

Quantum computing relies on quantum mechanics to solve complex problems that traditional computers can’t do. What makes quantum computing so exciting is its many real-world possibilities.

For example, quantum computers can be used to run simulations to determine how molecules would behave. These interactions can be quantified to narrow best courses of actions when developing drugs and targeting hard-to-treat diseases. Think of it as genome decoding that’s been ramped up to improve the likelihood of success when developing novel therapies.

Quantum computers can also be deployed to vastly improve cybersecurity solutions. This technology can potentially break existing encryption methods and lead to the development of quantum-resistant solutions that create lock-tight protections for cloud-based systems and end users.

But perhaps the most exciting aspect of quantum computing is what it might be able to do for the AI revolution. Quantum computers can speed up the process by which AI algorithms help software and systems “learn” and become more proficient at their tasks. Training large language models could occur significantly faster with quantum-capable solutions.

Based on one of Wall Street’s lofty estimates, which comes courtesy of Boston Consulting Group, quantum computing can create between $450 billion and $850 billion in global economic value 15 years from now. This high-ceiling estimate corresponds with substantial forward-year sales growth forecasts for the aforementioned pure-play quantum computing stocks:

• IonQ: projected sales growth of 87% in 2026
• Rigetti Computing: projected sales growth of 161% in 2026
• D-Wave Quantum: projected sales growth of 56% in 2026
• Quantum Computing: projected sales growth of 412% in 2026

Though optimism is through the roof, billionaire Warren Buffett’s famous investing advice rings loud: “Be greedy when others are fearful, and be fearful when others are greedy.”

Image source: Getty Images.

The time to be fearful with quantum computing stocks is here

Berkshire Hathaway‘s billionaire boss Warren Buffett has absolutely crushed the benchmark S&P 500 over six decades by sticking to this ethos. He pounces when fear creates advantageous price dislocations and sits on his proverbial hands (or sells shares of existing holdings) when valuations no longer make sense. This latter scenario encompasses the need to be fearful when others are being greedy.

There’s no denying that, on paper, quantum computing offers a compelling long-term growth story. The possibility of improving drug development, cybersecurity, supply chains, financial modeling, and AI algorithms, among other use cases, offers intrigue.

But there’s also a long list of reasons why, if you own shares of IonQ, Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and/or Quantum Computing, cashing in some or all of your chips right now makes complete sense.

To begin with, history hasn’t exactly been kind to game-changing technologies in their early expansion phase. Looking back more than 30 years, there hasn’t been a next-big-thing trend that’s avoided an eventual bubble-bursting event. Put in another context, investors and businesses have repeatedly overestimated the early stage adoption rate and/or utility of these newer technologies, leading to eventual disappointment.

While I’ve made this same argument with AI, it rings 100 times truer when it comes to quantum computing. Whereas AI hardware is flying off the proverbial shelf, and Wall Street’s most-influential businesses are eagerly deploying AI solutions, quantum computing utility is still very minimal. All the hallmarks of a bubble are firmly in place.

Secondly, these four pure-play stocks are all losing money hand over fist on an operating basis and aren’t particularly close to demonstrating their operating models are viable. Through the first-half of 2025, IonQ’s operating loss more than doubled to $236.3 million from the prior-year period, while Rigetti Computing’s operating loss jumped 27%.

IONQ PS Ratio data by YCharts.

To expand on this point, all four pure-play stocks are valued at price-to-sales (P/S) ratios that absolutely scream “bubble!” Companies on the leading edge of prior next-big-thing trends peaked at P/S ratios ranging from 30 to 40, with a little wiggle room in each direction. The trailing-12-month P/S ratios of Wall Street’s four quantum computing superstars are:

• IonQ: 319
• Rigetti Computing: 1,282.2
• D-Wave Quantum: 375.6
• Quantum Computing: 11,612.3

In no universe do the multibillion-dollar valuations currently assigned to these four stocks justify the relative pittance in continuous sales they’re generating. It’s another sign of a seemingly imminent bubble-bursting event.

The final reason investors should be fearful with these pure-play quantum computing stocks is because the “Magnificent Seven” have deeper pockets and an inside edge to the infrastructure that can fuel an eventual quantum computing revolution. Although companies like IonQ have landed meaningful partnerships, Mag-7 companies have the ability to aggressively spend on quantum computing solutions that may eventually lessen the need for hardware and software solutions from companies like IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing.

Quantum computing holds a lot of promise to impact fields such as climate science, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence (AI) modeling, and much more. Many investors are keen on getting in on the ground floor of new tech trends because, as artificial intelligence stocks have proven, buying early can pay off in spades.

That optimism may be fueling the staggering gains of more than 600% that IonQ (IONQ 5.29%) has returned over the past year. Some investors, no doubt, are wondering if they’re missing out by not owning IonQ. But there are a few reasons why investors may want to pause before buying IonQ stock. Here are a few.

Image source: Getty Images.

Expenses are rising, and losses are widening

IonQ is in growth mode right now, which means that the company is investing heavily into building its technology so that it can, ideally, outpace its competitors and generate significant revenue and earnings down the road.

There’s nothing wrong with that, and many growth companies, especially in the tech sector, do this. But it’s important to highlight how much money IonQ is losing in relation to its revenue. The company’s research and development spending spiked more than 230% in Q2 as the company invested in new tech and acquisitions. For reference, IonQ spent more on R&D in Q2 of 2025 than it did in the first nine months of last year.

That spending contributed to significant losses for the company of $177.5 million, up from a loss of just $37.5 million in the year-ago quarter. If we look at IonQ’s loss on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization basis (EBITDA), things look a little better, but not great. The company’s EBITDA loss was $36.5 million in the quarter, an increase from $23.7 million in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue is growing quickly, with sales jumping 81% in the quarter, but it’s still a modest amount of about $21 million. With losses expanding and IonQ likely to continue spending on R&D and potential acquisitions, revenue will have to accelerate dramatically for the company to eventually offset its losses.

The stock is pricey, and quantum computing is speculative

Even if you’re comfortable with the company’s losses, I think IonQ’s valuation and the speculative nature of the quantum computing market are two more reasons to hold off on buying IonQ. The company’s shares have a price-to-sales ratio of 303, which is very expensive even by tech stock standards — with software application and infrastructure stocks having an average P/S ratio of just 4.

That means IonQ’s sales have to grow at a tremendous rate in order to justify its stock’s current premium price tag, making its most recent revenue increase of 83% in Q2 appear relatively modest.

What’s more, quantum computing is still in its early stages, and even some technology heavy hitters, including Alphabet and Microsoft, believe its practical use cases are still years away. This means IonQ could continue investing in quantum computing technologies, widening its losses, with revenue increases that don’t keep pace with spending, all while betting that quantum computing demand will be there years from now.

IonQ is not a buy

When you add up all of the above, I think IonQ is too risky to buy right now. Its share price has surged at a time when it seems like nothing could dent the stock market’s returns, and I think a little too much optimism has crept into the market, pushing valuations very high.

I think investors would be better off monitoring how well the company’s revenue grows over the coming quarters, see if it can narrow its losses, and find out whether the quantum computing market delivers on its high hopes. But for now, IonQ looks too speculative for my liking.

By now, Nvidia has become a household name. The artificial intelligence (AI) chip stock dominates the market for GPUs, the chips that make AI models like ChatGPT run, and has ridden the AI boom to become the most valuable company in the world.

However, some investors are already looking for the next big thing in technology, and seem to have settled on quantum computing, a revolutionary technology that uses qubits, or quantum bits, to process information. By doing so, these computers are able to perform complex calculations exponentially faster than traditional computers, meaning they could have a similar disruptive effect as AI.

Image source: Getty Images.

Quantum stocks have gotten buzzy this year, and stocks like IonQ (IONQ 5.63%) have surged. As you can see from the chart below, IonQ and its peers have skyrocketed over the last year in a rally that began last December with Alphabet‘s announcement of a breakthrough with its Willow quantum chip.

IONQ data by YCharts

IonQ is the biggest of the four pure-play quantum stocks, now trading at a market cap of $19.4 billion. Though the company still has very little revenue, it’s been building significant momentum and showing more evidence that it and quantum computing more generally can go mainstream. Let’s take a closer look at where IonQ stands today and where it could go in the next decade.

IonQ today

IonQ reported $20.7 million in revenue in the second quarter, up 82% from the quarter a year ago. That’s still tiny for a company with a market cap of nearly $20 billion, but there are signs of a bright future for IonQ.

In the second quarter, the company said a collaborative research program between it, AstraZeneca, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Nvidia achieved more than 20 times improvement in end-to-end time-to-solution using a quantum-accelerated computational chemistry workflow for drug discovery. That’s strong evidence of the potential of the technology.

The company also forged partnerships around the world in the second quarter, including in South Korea, Japan, and Sweden, and announced an expansion in the Asia-Pacific region in collaboration with Emergence Quantum, an Australian company.

Finally, IonQ has been growing through a string of acquisitions, beefing up its capabilities in quantum computing. Those include Lightsynq and Capella in the second quarter, and Oxford Ionics and Vector Atomic, which hasn’t closed yet, in September.

Just on Wednesday, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy to advance quantum technologies in space, showing the federal government is getting more involved in quantum.

Will it beat Nvidia over the next decade?

There’s a ton of uncertainty in quantum computing over the next decade. The technology seems promising, but IonQ’s growth forecast still seems relatively modest as it expects full-year revenue of $82 million to $100 million. It could still be several years before it reaches $1 billion.

Comparing IonQ’s prospects to Nvidia’s is difficult because Nvidia is at a much different stage of its life cycle. As the most valuable company in the world, the ceiling for Nvidia’s growth is much lower than IonQ. At a price-to-earnings ratio of roughly 40, a 10x for Nvidia over the next decade would mean reaching $40 trillion in market cap and $1 trillion in profit if it maintained its valuation.

Currently, there aren’t any companies with $1 trillion in revenue, let alone $1 trillion in profit, and the S&P 500‘s current market cap is about $55 trillion. Looking at it that way, a 10x return for Nvidia will be difficult, if not unrealistic, over the next decade.

With greater upside potential and the potential disruption from quantum computing, IonQ could outperform Nvidia, but it’s much riskier than the AI leader.

For tech-minded growth investors, owning both stocks might be the best approach. It will also give you exposure to the top names in AI and quantum computing.

Quantum computing is emerging as the next big investment trend, although we’re still a few years out from seeing commercially viable quantum computing. As a result, investors are wondering what the best approach to quantum computing is.

There are publicly traded quantum computing investments, like IonQ (IONQ 5.39%), that have massive upside if they work out. However, they also come with big risks if their technology isn’t adopted. Multiple big tech companies are also involved in the quantum computing arms race, like Alphabet (GOOG 1.27%) (GOOGL 1.23%). These companies have nearly unlimited resources compared to the start-ups, but don’t have near the upside. This makes them safer picks, but investors might be worried they’re leaving too much potential on the table by not taking some risk.

So, between the two, which is the best quantum computing investment right now?

Image source: Getty Images.

Investors must pay a premium for IonQ

There is a significant size difference between the two companies. Alphabet is a tech behemoth with a market cap of $2.9 trillion, while IonQ is a comparatively small $17 billion company. However, despite Alphabet’s size, the stock is far cheaper than IonQ. Let me explain.

Currently, IonQ isn’t making a ton of money. It’s relying on various research partnerships and contracts that it has signed to generate revenue. In Q2, it recognized revenue of $21 million, which is a rounding error compared to Alphabet’s results. Alphabet generated $96.4 billion in revenue during Q2, making IonQ’s revenue 0.0218% of Alphabet’s total. That’s a huge difference.

With Alphabet, you’re paying about 8 times sales for the stock, or for every dollar of sales over 12 months, you’re paying $8. IonQ trades for 242 times sales, so it’s quite a bit more expensive.

GOOG PS Ratio data by YCharts

This mismatch is because the market is far more excited about IonQ’s future than Alphabet’s. Should both companies develop commercially relevant quantum computing systems, the effect it will have on each company’s growth is quite different. For Alphabet, it will likely contribute a few extra percentage points each quarter. For IonQ, a major system sale could cause its revenue to double or triple year over year. That explosive growth is what excites investors the most with IonQ, although it’s far from guaranteed.

Buying both stocks allows investors to balance risk

There’s no guarantee that the approach Alphabet or IonQ is taking will be a winning one. There may be a hidden flaw in each company’s design that doesn’t appear for a few years, which could eliminate them from contention in the quantum computing arms race.

While this would be disappointing for Alphabet, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It would continue down its path of AI dominance and also thrive on the advertising revenue generated by the Google search engine.

Unfortunately, if this happens to IonQ, the stock would likely go to $0, losing investors a ton of money. This scenario is probably more likely for IonQ than quantum computing success, and investors must be aware of this risk.

So, which one is the better buy? I’d say if you’re afraid of a stock going to zero, then IonQ is one to avoid, and Alphabet is more attractive. However, I think there’s a better approach. By devoting no more than 1% of your portfolio positioning to a quantum computing long shot like IonQ, you can capture some of the upside if it makes it big while limiting downside risk. Additionally, by purchasing shares of Alphabet to balance this risk out, investors can get two impressive quantum computing plays. This basket approach is a smart way to invest in an emerging field like quantum computing, as it balances out risk by investing in multiple companies.

Shares of IonQ (IONQ 1.67%) were soaring again this week as the quantum computing stock made multiple announcements, showing its technology is continuing to gain traction and is finding new customers. It also received a number of price target hikes from Wall Street analysts.

According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, IonQ stock was up 24.6% as of Thursday at 1:10 p.m. ET.

Image source: Getty Images.

A banner week for IonQ

IonQ has delivered solid gains every day this week on a drumbeat of good news. On Monday, two Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on the stock and reiterated buy-equivalent ratings. B. Riley said IonQ is “far better positioned” than the stock indicates.

The following day, IonQ said it would acquire Vector Atomic, a quantum technology company.

Finally, on Wednesday, IonQ was named a new partner, along with Honeywell, for the Quantum-in-Space collaboration spearheaded by the Department of Energy (DOE), which will advance quantum technologies used in space. IonQ also signed a memorandum of understanding with the DOE.

The rapid-fire news items added to the bullish narrative building around the stock.

What’s next for IonQ

IonQ has made a number of acquisitions in quantum computing and signed on new customers in recent months. Although the business is still small, with the company aiming for up to $100 million in revenue this year, IonQ looks poised to be a leader in the quantum computing revolution, as it’s the most valuable among the four major quantum stocks.

If interest in the sector continues to build, expect IonQ to continue to move higher, especially if it forges new deals and acquisitions.

Predicting where a company will be a decade from now is no easy task. Few could have imagined the ride that Nvidia has taken its shareholders on, as it has risen from a $12 billion company to become the world’s largest, currently valued at more than $4.1 trillion.

Ironically, IonQ (IONQ -1.91%) has a $12 billion market capitalization right now and is investing in high-powered computing that could have massive implications for the business world. So, where will this quantum computing start-up be a decade from now? Let’s find out.

Image source: Getty Images.

IonQ’s approach differs from the competition

Quantum computing is an exciting technology that could allow more accurate computations of problems that don’t have a singular answer. One area where quantum computing could thrive is logistics network planning. There are numerous ways a delivery route could be planned, but it’s hard to calculate all of those possibilities simultaneously to determine the best outcome.

Quantum computing doesn’t process information in bits (only a zero or a one). It can handle these calculations better because it uses qubits, which are better described as the probability of an answer being a zero or a one. This makes quantum computing an ideal technology forresearching drug discovery, training AI models, predicting weather patterns, or logistics. However, quantum computing is still working toward proving its relevance.

The biggest issue in quantum computing right now is calculation accuracy; because qubits don’t provide an exact zero or one answer, errors can occur in the calculation. The company that can provide the market with the most accurate computer first will likely be a huge success, which is why IonQ is one of my top picks for quantum computing.

Most quantum computing competitors are using a superconducting approach to perform quantum calculations. IonQ is utilizing a trapped-ion approach, which offers several advantages with a minor trade-off. The trapped-ion approach offers superior accuracy compared to superconducting methods and can be performed at room temperature, rather than near absolute zero, which reduces costs.

On the downside, the gate processing speed for trapped-ion computers is slower than that of superconducting computers. I believe the market will value cost and accuracy over pure speed, which leads me to think that IonQ could be a significant winner by capturing a substantial market share first.

If IonQ can bring a commercially viable product to the market first, it will be a massive winner in a huge market. But just how big is this market? IonQ estimates it to be about $87 billion by 2035.

Massive upside if IonQ can capture a chunk of the market

It’s unlikely that IonQ will be able to capture the entire $87 billion market, but if it’s first to market, it could capture a significant share. For reference, Nvidia has about a 90% market share in the data center GPU space.

If IonQ could capture a similar chunk of the market, it would be a massive success, easily growing into a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars. However, that’s not a sure thing.

The trapped-ion approach may have a limitation that prevents it from being commercially viable, which hasn’t been discovered yet. Another possibility is that the market values speed over accuracy and cost, making products from its competitors more attractive.

So, just as easily as IonQ could increase an investment by tenfold, it could go bankrupt. There’s nothing wrong with investing in high-risk, high-reward stocks like this, as long as position size is kept relatively small to manage risk. By devoting no more than 1% of their overall portfolio value to IonQ, investors can be protected from downside risk while also potentially benefiting significantly if the stock becomes the next Nvidia.

IonQ is a promising investment in quantum computing, but we’re still a long way away from knowing what the company will look like a decade from now, if it even exists at all.