IonQ shares slip 15%, but quantum premium holds ahead of short U.S. trading week

IonQ shares slip 15%, but quantum premium holds ahead of short U.S. trading week

NEW YORK, June 28, 2026, 14:10 EDT

  • IonQ Inc dropped 15.45% over five sessions. Friday’s volume was 215% of its 65-day average.
  • The company’s market value remained close to $18.3 billion, roughly 69 times the midpoint of its 2026 revenue forecast.
  • Friday’s volume topped reported short interest. The U.S. stock market will trade for four full sessions this week, with the NYSE closed on July 3.

IonQ Inc closed Friday at $49.31, falling 2.47%, with 67.76 million shares traded. Volume reached 215% of the 65-day average and topped the 50.49 million shares sold short as of June 15. The stock dropped 15.45% in five sessions but remained up 85.45% over three months.

This is notable because the drop did not make IonQ look cheap based on current sales. Shares last traded at a market cap of about $18.3 billion, roughly 69 times the $265 million midpoint of its 2026 revenue forecast, and about 39 times its $470 million in remaining performance obligations.

IonQ posted first-quarter revenue of $64.7 million in May, up 755% from a year earlier. The company raised its full-year revenue forecast to between $260 million and $270 million, and reported $3.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments. Chairman and CEO Niccolo de Masi called it the “biggest quarter in our company’s history” and put 2026 revenue guidance at the high end of $270 million. IonQ

IonQ’s latest trade valued the company higher than D-Wave Quantum Inc , Rigetti Computing Inc , and Quantum Computing Inc combined.

CompanyTickerLast priceMarket value
IonQ IncNYSE:IONQ$49.31$18.31 bln
D-Wave Quantum IncNYSE:QBTS$22.76$8.36 bln
Rigetti Computing IncNASDAQ:RGTI$18.36$6.16 bln
Quantum Computing IncNASDAQ:QUBT$9.18$2.06 bln

Analyst screens continue to show a large gap between the latest trade and price targets. Benzinga reported a Buy consensus with an average target of $65.63 from 17 analysts, a high of $100 and a low of $30. Northland Capital Markets’ $70 target set on June 22 was the most recent update.

This week saw little activity on governance. In a June 22 SEC filing, IonQ said shareholders elected two directors and approved executive pay in a non-binding vote, with 45.9 million in favor and 39.5 million against. The auditor was approved by a much wider margin, with 165.0 million for and 1.2 million against.

IonQ announced new product news outside its core quantum processors. On June 17, it launched Clavis XG Multiplex, a quantum key distribution system designed to handle quantum and classical traffic over metropolitan fiber networks. Jordan Shapiro, IonQ’s president of Quantum Platform, said, “Quantum security is moving beyond specialized network environments.” IonQ

Sector news kept the stock in focus despite a price drop. Barron’s said the White House signed two executive orders on June 23 to accelerate quantum development. Earlier in June, Quantinuum Inc raised $1.68 billion in its U.S. IPO, selling 28 million shares at $60 each, providing a fresh benchmark for quantum valuations.

The next test arrives in a short week. The NYSE will close for Independence Day on Friday, July 3, while regular sessions run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET on normal days. MarketBeat gives Aug. 5 as the estimated date for IonQ’s next earnings report but says the company hasn’t confirmed it.

Leokadia Głogulska

Leokadia Głogulska is a financial and technology journalist at TS2.tech. Her coverage ranges from stocks and artificial intelligence to space technology and developments across global markets. She graduated from Wrocław University of Economics and Business and worked in financial analysis before becoming a business journalist.

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