Quantum stock's 9,000% revenue jump: the math behind it

A stock that reports revenue growth in the thousands of percent sounds like it invented something new. Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT) posted second-quarter revenue of $5.6 million. That is 9,000% higher than the $61,000 it reported a year earlier, according to the company's SEC filing.

The number is real. The business behind it remains small enough to fit inside a single university research grant.

QUBT shares traded near $9 on Friday, Aug. 21, part of a rally that lifted seven quantum computing stocks at once, according to Seeking Alpha. D-Wave Quantum (QBTS), Rigetti Computing (RGTI), IonQ (IONQ), Infleqtion (INFQ), IQM Quantum Computers (IQMX), and IBM (IBM) all moved higher the same morning. When one stock rallies in a niche industry, the rest often follow.

The revenue jump came from photonics product sales across government, educational, and commercial customers, the company said. Revenue also grew 51% from the first quarter's $3.7 million, a smaller gain.

Most of the improvement in QCi's bottom line came from a shrinking paper loss on warrant derivatives, not from the core business turning profitable, according to the filing's breakdown. Net loss narrowed to $11.8 million from $36.5 million a year earlier. QCi ended the quarter with a $42.5 million order backlog and $1.3 billion in cash, giving it years of runway while the operating business continues to lose money.

The quarter included QCi's acquisition of NHanced Semiconductors. The deal added a second chip fabrication facility and expanded the company's U.S. manufacturing footprint, the earnings release said. Operating expenses rose 114% year over year to $21.8 million, partly from acquisition-related costs.

D-Wave gained as much as 7%. Rigetti climbed 9.6%. IonQ rose 7.5%. Infleqtion added 9%. IQM popped 7%. None of them moved for the same reason.

A new Outperform rating and $35 price target from BMO Capital Markets, implying roughly 85% upside, sent D-Wave shares higher, according to a BMO note covered by The Motley Fool. Rigetti shares rose even more that same morning, even though BMO's note never mentioned the company, The Motley Fool reported.

IBM (IBM) advanced 2% two days after saying it had successfully cooled and linked two cryogenic modules, a step toward the fault-tolerant quantum computer it targets for 2029, an IBM press release confirmed. IonQ signed a non-binding agreement to become a listed cloud provider on a Canadian government quantum platform, a deal carrying no revenue guarantee, according to TipRanks.

The common thread is not fundamentals. Quantum stocks increasingly trade as a single basket, moving more with sector sentiment than with any one company's earnings. A bullish headline on one name tends to lift the rest of the group, even when the news does not apply to them.

The percentages doing the talking this week say more about how small these companies still are than about how close quantum computing is to arriving. Infleqtion is the clearest example. The company originally reported second-quarter revenue up 116% to $12.6 million on Aug. 12. Five days later, it quietly raised that figure to $13.5 million, a 157% increase, in an amended SEC filing. Most of the coverage that moved Infleqtion's stock this week never caught the revision.

None of this means quantum computing is not real progress. It means a headline reading "9,000% growth" or "157% growth" is only useful once an investor knows the prior-year number. A rounding error looks like a moonshot when the starting point is close to zero. Investors who buy on the percentage alone are betting on a narrative, not a balance sheet.

That is a different kind of bet than the quantum revolution framing on trading platforms suggests this week.

The same pattern played out with early-stage solar, biotech, and electric-vehicle stocks. Triple and quadruple-digit growth headlines ran ahead of the dollar figures behind them. The percentages shrink as the denominator grows, and the market's appetite for celebrating them shrinks too.

The more useful numbers to watch are backlog conversion and repeat orders. IQM Quantum Computers has told investors to expect most of its 2026 revenue in the fourth quarter, tied to system deliveries already inside its EUR 102 million order backlog. D-Wave has guided to two to three full system sales a year starting in 2027. Those figures will look smaller than this week's percentages. They will say more about whether quantum computing is becoming a real business.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Aug 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.