Berkeley, California, April 26, 2026, 13:03 PDT
On Sunday, Wall Street Zen downgraded Rigetti Computing, Inc. to “sell” from “hold,” putting more weight on the quantum-computing stock. That’s despite the fact that MarketBeat data still shows a wider “Moderate Buy” consensus for the name. ([MarketBeat][1])
The timing is key here. Rigetti shares changed hands at $16.61, slipping 1.5% from their previous close. That puts the company’s market cap at around $5.4 billion and leaves investors considering a steep tech premium on a business still in its early revenue stages.
The move comes just two days after Rigetti sent out proxy materials ahead of its June 9 annual meeting. Investors are set to vote on re-electing CEO Subodh Kulkarni as a Class I director and on confirming BDO USA as auditor for 2026. As of the April 15 record date, the company listed 332.3 million shares outstanding, according to the filing.
Now, it’s mostly about execution. Earlier this month, Rigetti announced that its Cepheus-1-108Q system—with 108 qubits at its core—was officially live on both the company’s own cloud and Amazon Braket, AWS’s quantum platform. Kulkarni described the release as “a milestone,” highlighting that the chiplet architecture aims to enable “higher fidelity, higher qubit systems.” Rigetti Co, LLC
AWS cast the launch as a matter of customer access. According to Amazon Braket, the Cepheus-1-108Q system brings in controlled phase, or CZ, gates, aiming to boost resilience against specific errors in superconducting setups. The company points to chemical simulation, optimization, and machine learning as target applications.
Rigetti’s data puts the machine’s median two-qubit gate fidelity at 99.1%, while single-qubit fidelity clocks in at 99.9%. According to the company, the 108-qubit system has been up and running since April 7.
The business picture stays slim. Rigetti posted $1.9 million in revenue for the fourth quarter, weighed down by an operating loss of $22.6 million. Revenue for 2025 landed at $7.1 million, while the company’s GAAP net loss widened to $216.2 million. Cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments came in at $589.8 million at the end of the year—enough cushion for now, though profitability is still out of reach.
The risk stands out. According to Rigetti’s annual report, government contracts accounted for 90.2% of its 2025 revenue. Management has also flagged persistent operating losses stretching back to the company’s start. Any hiccup—whether a pause in government funding, weaker order flow, or slipping on a key technical goal—could flip the stock’s outlook fast.
The space is both crowded and unpredictable. Reuters puts Rigetti, IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantum Computing Inc. among the handful of pure-play quantum stocks attracting speculative bets. Rick Bradt, portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman, has called quantum computing the “holy grail of computing,” but adds there’s “a lot of uncertainty” around when it might deliver. Reuters
That’s the trade-off. The company’s got a bigger machine out there, a prominent cloud channel, and the cash to keep at it. But revenue’s thin, losses are deep, and the share price still banks on customers showing up before time—or patience—runs dry.
Weekend chatter among investors showed that divide. Leo Sun, a Motley Fool analyst, called Rigetti “too hot to handle” and warned the shares could drop if Wall Street’s growth targets aren’t met—despite the 108-qubit rollout. fool.com
Wall Street Zen has cut its rating on , according to a note published this day.
