NEW YORK, May 21, 2026, 07:12 EDT
IonQ shares jumped about 8% in premarket trading Thursday, picking up steam during a wild period for one of the top pure-play quantum-computing names. The stock was quoted at $52.47 ahead of the U.S. market open, up $4.02 from where it closed Wednesday.
Quantum stocks got a new policy push today after Reuters, citing the Wall Street Journal, said the Trump administration will hand out $2 billion in grants to nine quantum-computing firms. The U.S. is also taking equity stakes in some of the deals, according to the report. IBM, D-Wave Quantum, and Rigetti Computing are named as recipients, while IonQ did not appear on the list.
IonQ is getting repriced as investors question if its commercial pipeline can keep pace with its valuation and spending. Simply Wall St noted on May 19 that IonQ shares dropped 13.3%, despite the company raising its 2026 revenue forecast and bumping up remaining performance obligations to $470 million. That figure is a backlog-style metric of contracted but unbooked revenue.
Quantum computers work with quantum mechanics to take on tough problems that standard computers struggle with. The main piece is the qubit, but qubits are tough to manage and often make mistakes. That’s kept investors wary about revenue growth in the field.
IonQ reported first-quarter revenue increased 755% year over year to $64.7 million, and guided 2026 revenue in a range of $260 million to $270 million. IonQ said around 60% of its revenue came from commercial customers, while 35% came from international customers and the same percentage from multi-product customers.
IonQ is the only quantum stock on Julia Ostian’s radar after a ratings upgrade in her May 20 Seeking Alpha piece. She pointed to IonQ’s move into a vertically integrated model in computing, networking and related areas. But Ostian called the company’s valuation high-risk and noted IonQ trades at 67 times forward sales.
Professional investors have been getting in, too. MarketBeat said CloudAlpha Capital Management bought 54,102 shares of IonQ in the fourth quarter, worth around $2.43 million, and pegged institutional ownership at 41.42%.
Acquisition hopes are key for the bulls. SkyWater Technology holders backed the merger with IonQ on May 8, but the deal is still waiting on regulators and some other closing steps. SkyWater says it sees the deal finishing in either Q2 or Q3 of 2026.
IonQ has picked up more than just its main business. In January, the company finished buying Skyloom Global, which works in lightwave optics. It also wrapped up its Oxford Ionics acquisition in September 2025, giving IonQ control over trapped-ion tech and a UK footprint.
But there’s a risk that spending and integration could get out ahead of results. IonQ’s valuation hit 103 times trailing revenue, the ad-hoc-news report said. The company has kept reporting adjusted losses and is guiding to a full-year adjusted EBITDA loss of $310 million to $330 million, a profit figure that removes some costs.
IonQ shares had “high expectations going into the print,” D.A. Davidson analyst Alex Platt told Reuters, but he said there’s still skepticism about the company’s trapped-ion qubits and its overall strategy. CEO Niccolo de Masi told Reuters that profitability isn’t a major goal this year, with IonQ instead putting focus on revenue growth and research spending. Reuters
IonQ’s next steps look clear. It needs to turn backlog into booked revenue, get the SkyWater deal done and integrated, and prove its tech roadmap can keep up as policy funding boosts competitors.
