Q/C Technologies (QCLS) Stock Skyrockets on Martin Shkreli’s $100 ‘Quantum-Class’ Call – What’s Really Behind the Rally on December 4, 2025

Microcap quantum‑class computing and blockchain play Q/C Technologies has doubled in two sessions after Martin Shkreli unveiled a bold $100 price target. Here’s what’s driving QCLS – and the risks behind the hype.

QCLS stock today: a tiny name with huge moves

By early afternoon on December 4, 2025, shares of Q/C Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCLS) were trading around $6.7–$6.8, up more than 40% on the day, with an intraday range of roughly $5.40 to $7.95 and volume near 80 million shares – hundreds of times above its typical daily turnover of around 250,000 shares. ^[1]

According to price history data, QCLS closed at $3.38 on December 2, $4.67 on December 3 (+38%), and was on track to finish near $6.80 on December 4 (+45%). Over just two trading sessions, the stock has roughly doubled, taking its market capitalization to about $28 million on a basic share count of 4.17 million shares. ^[2]

At the same time, QCLS remains an ultra‑volatile microcap:

52‑week range: about $2.50 to $164, reflecting reverse splits and prior speculative spikes. ^[3]
Earnings (ttm): net loss of around $11.6 million and EPS of –$26.61, with no meaningful revenue reported. ^[4]

So why is this tiny, loss‑making company suddenly on every trader’s screen?

How Martin Shkreli lit the fuse under Q/C Technologies

The immediate catalyst for the QCLS surge is a very specific one: Martin Shkreli.

On social platform X, the former pharmaceutical executive announced that he had taken a “large” investment position in Q/C Technologies, calling it a photonic/optical computing stock and branding the theme as “quantum class” so investors “understand it.” ^[5]

Across multiple outlets (Benzinga, Investing.com, Invezz and StockTwits), Shkreli has laid out a surprisingly aggressive bullish thesis: ^[6]

He argues that “frontier computing is optical, not quantum,” contending that photonic systems can perform the matrix multiplications required for AI far faster than GPUs.
He cites Microsoft research on optical/photonic computing as validation that the sector could be a major beneficiary of future high‑performance computing trends.
He says that data from QCLS’s Israeli partner is “more impressive than current quantum stocks.”
He has set a near‑term price target of $100 per share – implying roughly a 15x move from the ~$6.7 level and a market cap jump from about $28 million to over $400 million, assuming today’s share count.
He also claimed he’d be willing to serve as CEO of Q/C Technologies “if allowed by Trump”, a tongue‑in‑cheek nod to his current regulatory restrictions.

Coverage from Investing.com notes that QCLS rose 16% on Thursday after a 38% gain Wednesday as traders reacted to Shkreli’s “long idea.” ^[7] Invezz, via TradingView, describes the stock as “up well over 100%” versus the start of December and warns that the name now looks more like a “speculative bet than a sound long‑term investment” given its limited revenues and early‑stage technology. ^[8]

StockTwits, which ran a mid‑day explainer titled “Why Did QCLS Stock Surge Over 60% Today?”, reports that: ^[9]

Retail sentiment in QCLS is “extremely bullish.”
Message volume on the platform is “extremely high,” making QCLS one of the most‑trending tickers.
Despite the latest spike, QCLS shares are still down over 98% year‑to‑date, reflecting the stock’s brutal history even before the quantum‑class story caught fire.

It’s also important context that Shkreli’s track record is controversial and mixed. Invezz highlights that he was “massively wrong” on his high‑profile short call against Capricor Therapeutics (CAPR), which later quadrupled after positive trial results. ^[10] And regulators have previously imposed a lifetime ban on his participation in the pharmaceutical industry and a permanent bar from serving as an officer or director of a public company. ^[11]

In short: Shkreli’s imprimatur is clearly moving QCLS in the short term, but his calls are far from a guarantee.

What does Q/C Technologies actually do?

To understand whether the rally has staying power, you need to know what Q/C Technologies is – and what it used to be.

From clinical‑stage pharma to quantum‑class computing

Until recently, Q/C Technologies operated as TNF Pharmaceuticals (ticker TNFA), a clinical‑stage biotech company developing: ^[12]

Isomyosamine – an oral TNF‑α inhibitor targeting autoimmune and inflammatory conditions such as sarcopenia and frailty, as well as treatment‑related adverse effects in diabetes and obesity.
Supera‑CBD – a synthetic cannabidiol analog for indications including pain and inflammatory disorders.

In September 2025, the company changed its name to Q/C Technologies, Inc. and adopted the QCLS ticker on Nasdaq, explicitly signaling a strategic pivot into “quantum‑class photonic computing” while continuing to “evaluate strategic options” for its legacy therapeutic programs. ^[13]

The LightSolver deal and qc‑LPU100

The pivot is built around an alliance with LightSolver, an Israeli company developing laser‑based processing units (LPUs) that use light instead of electrical signals to compute.

Key pieces of the new story:

Q/C has exclusive global rights to LightSolver’s light‑speed LPU technology for the cryptocurrency vertical, positioning itself as a builder of energy‑efficient blockchain infrastructure. ^[14]
In October 2025, Q/C announced its branded qc‑LPU100™ quantum‑class laser processing units, claiming they are designed to:
- Achieve up to 100x faster performance than state‑of‑the‑art GPUs and some quantum systems,
- Use as little as 1/100th of the energy, and
- Target demanding workloads such as partial differential equations (PDEs), crypto mining for DePin (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure) tokens and compute‑hungry AI applications. ^[15]
The company says LightSolver’s systems could scale to 100,000 variables by 2027 and 1 million by 2029, supporting large‑scale simulations and optimization problems. ^[16]

In a separate October press release, Q/C appointed Technion professor Dr. Steven Frankel as Senior Quantum Advisor to help guide its photonic and quantum‑class computing initiatives, highlighting his background in computational fluid dynamics, machine learning and quantum hardware. ^[17]

Taken together, the company is pitching itself as a “quantum‑class computing at the speed of light” play for crypto and high‑performance computing – a sharp departure from its prior life as a micro‑cap biotech.

Financial snapshot: pre‑revenue, loss‑making, thin cushion

Beneath the futuristic marketing, Q/C Technologies’ financial profile is still very early‑stage.

Based on recent data from StockAnalysis, Investing.com and other aggregators: ^[18]

Revenue: effectively nil; the business has not yet reported material sales from its quantum‑class or blockchain activities.
Net loss (trailing 12 months): about –$11.6 million, reflecting ongoing R&D and corporate overhead.
Latest quarterly net income: roughly –$2.8 million, up from ~–$1.8 million the prior quarter.
EPS (ttm): about –$26.61 per share.
Cash & liquidity: a recent trading note from StocksToTrade cites about $8 million in cash, with a current ratio of ~1.7, suggesting near‑term obligations are covered but leaving little room if spending accelerates. ^[19]
Market cap: around $25–28 million at current prices, classifying QCLS firmly as a nano‑cap name. ^[20]

These numbers underline an important point: Q/C Technologies is pre‑commercial and deeply unprofitable. Any bullish case rests largely on future technology adoption, not current cash flows.

Dilution and capital structure: 6.5M shares waiting in the wings

One of the most critical pieces of the QCLS story – and one easily overlooked amid the price action – is its capital structure and dilution risk.

On October 3, 2025, Q/C Technologies filed an S‑3 registration statement for the resale of up to 6,511,799 shares of common stock by existing selling stockholders. ^[21]

Those shares consist of:

Stock issuable upon conversion of Series H and Series I convertible preferred shares,
Stock issuable upon the exercise of associated warrants, and
Additional advisory shares.

For context:

The company currently lists about 4.17 million shares outstanding on a basic basis. ^[22]
If all 6.51 million registered shares were ultimately issued, the fully‑diluted share count could climb to roughly 10.7 million, more than 2.5x the current level.

Because this S‑3 is a resale registration, proceeds from the sale of those shares would go primarily to the selling stockholders, not directly into Q/C’s treasury – but existing shareholders would still bear the dilution. ^[23]

Separately, shareholders recently approved an equity plan amendment and a reverse stock split, reinforcing that QCLS is actively managing its capital structure and Nasdaq listing compliance. ^[24]

For traders chasing a momentum spike, this overhang may not matter in the next few sessions. For longer‑term investors, however, potential dilution is a major part of the risk‑reward equation.

What do forecasts and analyst models say about QCLS?

Despite the sudden spotlight, traditional Wall Street coverage of Q/C Technologies is essentially non‑existent.

Simply Wall St reports that QCLS has no professional analyst coverage and fails all six of its future‑growth criteria, meaning the platform cannot provide reliable earnings or revenue forecasts. ^[25]
ChartMill assigns QCLS a technical rating of 4/10 and a fundamental rating of 1/10, reflecting poor fundamentals and only middling technical strength despite the recent surge. ^[26]
ChartMill also flags short interest of about 11.5% of float, which can amplify both rallies and sell‑offs. ^[27]
On the technical side, Investing.com’s indicator‑based models currently screen QCLS as a “Buy” on at least some daily timeframes, driven by momentum and moving averages rather than fundamentals. ^[28]

In other words, there is no widely accepted “street” price target or consensus forecast to compare against Shkreli’s $100 near‑term goal. What exists instead are algorithmic technical signals and a few independent ratings that caution about weak fundamentals and elevated risk.

Retail sentiment, search trends and quantum‑computing hype

The QCLS move isn’t happening in a vacuum; it sits at the intersection of several hot themes:

Quantum / photonic computing hype
AInvest’s recent note on QCLS characterizes its December 3 rally (to around $4.68) as driven by “quantum computing hype” and unconfirmed rumors of patents and fintech partnerships, with turnover jumping over 1,300% to more than 50 million shares in a single session. ^[29]
Retail‑driven trading
StockTwits data shows QCLS as one of the top‑trending tickers, with extremely bullish sentiment and surging message volume following Shkreli’s endorsement. ^[30]
Search interest & attention cycles
Interestingly, data from INDmoney suggests that search interest in QCLS stock actually fell about 9% over the last 30 days, even as recent performance has outpaced larger peers on a one‑ and three‑year horizon. ^[31] This hints at how quickly attention can swing back toward a forgotten microcap once a strong narrative – or a high‑profile influencer – returns to the story.

Between quantum‑class buzz, retail enthusiasm and meaningful short interest, QCLS has all the ingredients for sharp squeezes and equally sharp reversals.

Key risks: more than just volatility

Beyond price action, several structural risks stand out for Q/C Technologies:

Execution and technology risk
- The qc‑LPU100 concept is still in the early stages. Claims of 100x speed‑ups and drastic energy savings are exciting but not yet widely validated at scale or in production enterprise settings. ^[32]
- Q/C is competing not just with other photonic startups, but with established GPU vendors and major quantum players – all with deeper pockets and larger teams.
Financial and going‑concern risk
- The company is pre‑revenue and loss‑making, with a history of sizable annual net losses and modest cash reserves relative to its ambitions. ^[33]
- A recent delay in filing its Form 10‑Q was noted by Simply Wall St, a reminder that smaller issuers can face reporting and resource constraints. ^[34]
Dilution and capital structure complexity
- The 6.51 million registered resale shares tied to preferreds and warrants represent significant potential dilution relative to the current 4.17 million shares outstanding. ^[35]
- Shareholders have already approved measures including reverse stock splits and equity plan amendments, common but sometimes painful tools for microcaps trying to maintain listings and raise capital. ^[36]
Regulatory and reputational risk from Shkreli’s involvement
- Shkreli remains banned for life from the pharmaceutical industry and barred from serving as an officer or director of public companies, per court orders affirmed in 2022–2024. ^[37]
- While his investment and commentary may attract attention, they also bring heightened regulatory and media scrutiny, and any suggestion of official roles at a public company would run into legal constraints.
Share‑price instability
- Simply Wall St and others flag share‑price instability as a structural risk, and the 52‑week range of $2.50–$164 illustrates how violent past moves have been. ^[38]

For anyone considering QCLS, these factors make it more akin to a speculative trading vehicle than a traditional growth stock at this stage.

QCLS stock outlook: what a $100 target really implies

Shkreli’s headline‑grabbing $100 near‑term price target makes for great social media, but it’s worth unpacking what that would mean in basic numbers.

At roughly $6.7 per share and 4.17 million shares outstanding, Q/C Technologies is valued at around $28 million. ^[39]

At $100 per share, with the same share count, the market cap would jump to roughly $417 million – more than 14x higher.
If you factor in the 6.5 million additional shares registered for resale, a fully diluted scenario could push the share count closer to 10.7 million, meaning even at $100, the implied valuation would still be high relative to today’s zero‑revenue business model – and existing holders would own a smaller slice of the company. ^[40]

To justify those kinds of valuations on a fundamental basis, Q/C would likely need to:

Successfully commercialize qc‑LPU100 hardware and services;
Win meaningful contracts in crypto, DePin and possibly AI/high‑performance computing; and
Demonstrate that its photonic approach can scale in real‑world deployments while maintaining the energy and performance advantages described in its press releases. ^[41]

None of that is impossible – but very little of it is visible today in the company’s reported financials. The current surge looks driven primarily by narrative, influencer attention and technical momentum, not by a sudden transformation in underlying metrics.

What this all means for investors and traders

For short‑term traders, QCLS has the hallmarks of a classic momentum name:

Rapid price expansion on enormous volume,
Strong social‑media narrative and influencer backing,
Meaningful short interest that can fuel additional squeezes, and
A news pipeline (Shkreli comments, photonic computing headlines, crypto‑related updates) that can continue to move the stock intraday. ^[42]

For longer‑term investors, Q/C Technologies is a very different proposition:

A pre‑revenue quantum‑class computing story still building its first commercial products,
A legacy biotech pipeline whose future remains uncertain,
A complex capital structure with substantial potential dilution, and
Limited independent analyst coverage or fundamental valuation anchors.

If you are evaluating QCLS beyond a short‑term trade, it’s prudent to:

Read the latest 10‑K, 10‑Q and S‑3 filings in full (including the 6.51M‑share resale prospectus and any risk‑factor updates). ^[43]
Understand how the LightSolver licensing agreement works – including exclusivity, revenue‑sharing and required capital commitments. ^[44]
Consider how microcap volatility, dilution and regulatory history fit your own risk tolerance and time horizon.

Nothing in this article is financial advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold QCLS. It’s a high‑risk, high‑volatility microcap that today sits at the intersection of an exciting technology theme and a very speculative trading environment.