Is IonQ a Better Pick Than RGTI and QBTS Amid the 2025 Quantum Boom?

It is gradually becoming clear whether IonQ IONQ is a stronger investment bet than its quantum peers in 2025. With solid funding, strategic acquisitions and clear technological leadership in gate-based trapped-ion systems, IonQ is advancing faster toward scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computing. In contrast, peers like Rigetti and D-Wave remain more limited in revenue scale or technological scope, underscoring IonQ’s stronger long-term growth positioning as of now.Let’s delve deeper.IONQ and Its Peers: A 2025 Comparative AnalysisIonQappears comparatively better positioned for long-term growth than its quantum peers, based on its progress so far in 2025. The company’s $2.0 billion equity raise in October 2025, though dilutive in the short term, demonstrates strong institutional confidence and provides a deep capital runway to accelerate commercialization and scale production of next-generation trapped-ion systems. IonQ’s completion of the Oxford Ionics acquisition consolidates critical trapped-ion IP, enhancing its roadmap toward error-corrected and fault-tolerant quantum computing, an area where IonQ maintains clear technological leadership. Moreover, its 2025 announcements of breakthroughs in quantum chemistry simulation and expanded enterprise partnerships, including in AI and materials research, underscore a tangible shift from prototype systems to scalable revenue opportunities.In contrast, among IONQ’s major peers, Rigetti Computing RGTI continues to report modest revenues ($1.8 million in Q2 2025) amid large operating losses, consistent with a firm still in deep development mode. D-Wave Quantum QBTS leverages quantum annealing, a more specialized architecture suited to optimization tasks. While it has demonstrated stronger traction and customer deployments in its niche, annealing systems do not yet offer the full algorithmic flexibility of gate-based quantum computers.IonQ’s advantage lies in its gate-based trapped-ion architecture, which, in theory, supports a broader class of quantum algorithms, coupled with its advances in gate speed, fidelity and roadmap toward fault tolerance.IONQ’s 2025 Estimates Show Strong Growth ProspectsIONQ is projected to report 2025 earnings growth of 37.8% on revenue growth of 115.1% over 2024. This compares to RGTI’s expected earnings growth of 75% for the full year despite a 19.7% revenue decline. For QBTS, 2025 earnings are expected to grow 68% on 181.5% revenue growth.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchIONQ's Valuation Better Than Its PeersIonQ’s forward 12-month price/sales (P/S) ratio of 141.63 is far above the industry average of 4.38X but below QBTS and RGTI, as you can see below.Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchRisks RemainDespite IonQ’s strong positioning, several risks temper the bullish outlook. IonQ posted significant operating losses in the second quarter of 2025 despite scaling revenues, which reflected high R&D and capital expenses that could persist through commercialization. The company’s significant equity raise introduces dilution risk for existing shareholders.IonQ’s management has acknowledged challenges in integrating Oxford Ionics, whose technology must be successfully merged into IonQ’s hardware roadmap to deliver on promised performance gains. Additionally, the company’s aggressive capacity expansion and reliance on long-term contracts expose it to demand variability and macroeconomic shifts that could delay enterprise adoption.Further, rivals like Rigetti and D-Wave are steadily improving their technology and gaining new customers, showing that leadership in quantum computing is still evolving and IonQ’s advantage is not yet secure.Year to date, although IonQ stock surged 73.3%, it underperformed D-Wave and Rigetti’s gains of 433% and 269.2%, respectively.YTD Share Price PerformanceImage Source: Zacks Investment ResearchOur TakeWhile IonQ’s valuation is more reasonable than its peers, we maintain a cautious stance given the company’s execution and integration risks. Despite strong long-term fundamentals, including solid funding, strategic acquisitions and clear technological leadership, IonQ continues to report sizable operating losses as it scales. Meanwhile, the quantum computing market remains early-stage, with revenue growth yet to offset heavy R&D spending. The stock’s 73% year-to-date rise also suggests that near-term upside may be limited until the company demonstrates sustained commercial traction and margin improvement. Therefore, we recommend investors retain IONQ, a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. New investors can await a clearer earnings inflection for a better entry point. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Free Report: Profiting from the 2nd Wave of AI ExplosionThe next phase of the AI explosion is poised to create significant wealth for investors, especially those who get in early. It will add literally trillion of dollars to the economy and revolutionize nearly every part of our lives.Investors who bought shares like Nvidia at the right time have had a shot at huge gains.But the rocket ride in the "first wave" of AI stocks may soon come to an end. The sharp upward trajectory of these stocks will begin to level off, leaving exponential growth to a new wave of cutting-edge companies.Zacks' AI Boom 2.0: The Second Wave report reveals 4 under-the-radar companies that may soon be shining stars of AI’s next leap forward.Access AI Boom 2.0 now, absolutely free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report IonQ, Inc. (IONQ): Free Stock Analysis Report Rigetti Computing, Inc. (RGTI): Free Stock Analysis Report D-Wave Quantum Inc. (QBTS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks