Insiders at IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI), and D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS) have collectively sold approximately $863 million more stock than they have purchased over the last three years.
The figure comes from an analysis of Form 4 filings cited by The Motley Fool, and carries a notable caveat: insider buying across all three companies has been nearly nonexistent throughout the period.
The selling trend stands in sharp contrast to what outside investors have experienced, with some trailing 12-month returns reaching as high as 6,200% at peak enthusiasm across the group.
Despite those extraordinary gains, insiders remained substantial net sellers throughout much of the rally, with open-market purchases remaining comparatively limited at every stage.
Valuations offer perhaps the clearest explanation for insider caution, with IONQ, RGTI, and QBTS carrying price-to-sales ratios of 68.87, 406.82, and 532.38, respectively, as of August 28.
Those multiples mirror levels that have historically proven unsustainable for early-stage technology companies riding waves of investor enthusiasm rather than commercial adoption.
The insider-selling data does not capture the full picture, however, as the fundamentals of all three companies actually improved meaningfully in 2026.
IonQ reported second-quarter revenue of $80.1 million, up 287% year-over-year, and raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $280 million to $290 million, with remaining performance obligations totaling $485 million.
D-Wave Quantum posted first-half bookings growth of 1,120% year-over-year, with production applications accounting for 37.3% of its first-half cloud-services revenue, a significant milestone for commercial validation.
Rigetti Computing, the smallest of the three by revenue, has been advancing a 108-qubit hardware roadmap while pursuing government financing, including a prospective Department of Commerce effort worth up to $100 million over three years tied to CHIPS Act infrastructure.
Institutional sentiment diverged across the three names between the first and second quarters of 2026, with hedge fund ownership at IONQ rising from 39 to 42 funds and RGTI climbing from 29 to 34.
D-Wave moved in the opposite direction, with hedge fund ownership falling from 26 to 17 during the same period, a notable decline despite the company reporting the strongest year-over-year bookings growth of the group.
The bull case for these companies rests on the premise that 2026’s improving fundamentals represent a genuine commercial turning point rather than a continuation of speculative momentum.
Insider selling is also common across fast-growing technology companies with heavily stock-based compensation structures, and does not automatically signal a lack of long-term conviction from company leadership.
The bear case, however, is harder to dismiss, particularly the near-complete absence of insider buying over three years, suggesting that those with the greatest visibility into operations have not moved to increase their own stakes during the rally.
Investors weighing these stocks should monitor any shift in insider buying activity as a potential signal of changing internal confidence, while keeping in mind that price-to-sales multiples ranging from roughly 69 to over 500 leave minimal margin for execution error.
At current valuations, continued commercial adoption rather than revenue growth from a small base will ultimately determine whether these stocks can sustain their current market prices over the long term.
