D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NASDAQ: QBTS) shares slipped in Tuesday premarket trading as investors locked in gains following Monday’s nearly 20% rally.
The retreat came after D-Wave announced an agreement with AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) to expand quantum computing across AT&T’s network operations.
That deal served as a powerful commercial endorsement for D-Wave, signaling growing enterprise demand for quantum computing solutions in real-world infrastructure.
The broader market added pressure to the pullback, with Nasdaq futures down 0.92% and S&P 500 futures off 0.03% during the same premarket session.
Notably, quantum stocks surged Monday even as the Nasdaq fell 1.09% and the technology sector declined 2.18%, underscoring the group’s momentum-driven trading behavior.
The AT&T agreement also lifted peers IonQ Inc. (NYSE: IONQ), Rigetti Computing Inc. (NASDAQ: RGTI), and Quantum Computing Inc. (NASDAQ: QUBT) during Monday’s session.
By Tuesday premarket, QBTS shares were down 2.75% at $18.97, according to Benzinga Pro data, reflecting profit-taking ahead of next week’s earnings report.
From a technical standpoint, QBTS is still working to recover from earlier damage, trading 3.3% below its 20-day simple moving average of $19.68 and 16.2% below its 50-day SMA of $22.71.
A death cross that occurred in March, with the 50-day SMA falling below the 200-day SMA, suggests that rallies may continue to face selling pressure until price reclaims those key averages.
The stock’s RSI sits at 48.66, a neutral reading that points to a bounce attempt rather than an overbought breakout situation.
Traders are watching $16.00 as key support, tied to a prior buyer-defense zone, while $22.00 represents key resistance near the 50-day SMA where rebounds have previously stalled.
Investor focus is now shifting toward D-Wave’s second-quarter earnings report, scheduled for August 6, with analysts estimating a loss of 10 cents per share on revenue of $4.04 million.
That compares to a loss of 8 cents per share and revenue of $3.10 million in the same quarter a year earlier, reflecting continued revenue growth alongside widening per-share losses.
Analyst sentiment on QBTS remains broadly constructive, with a consensus Buy rating and an average price forecast of $39.00 across 18 analysts, ranging from a low of $30.00 to a high of $43.00.
Recent analyst actions include Benchmark initiating coverage with a Buy rating and a $30.00 price target on July 27, while Mizuho raised its forecast to $35.00 with an Outperform rating in June.
