IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) shares climbed 4% to $45.60 on Wednesday after Bank of America initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $60 price target.
The analyst call identified IonQ as the largest public pure-play quantum computing company measured by revenue, drawing fresh attention to the sector.
Bank of America pointed to the company’s semiconductor-enabled path for scaling qubit counts and broad customer engagement across quantum computing, communications, and sensing.
The firm applied a blended enterprise-value-to-sales multiple to longer-term revenue projections that include both quantum hardware and foundry-related sales.
IonQ’s recent SkyWater deal brought foundry capacity and helped lift the company’s fiscal 2026 revenue guidance midpoint, strengthening the commercial case for the stock.
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) shares advanced 2% to $16.13, participating in the broader strength that spread across quantum computing names following the IonQ analyst call.
D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS) stock also rose 2% to $16.84, with the annealing-based quantum systems company benefiting from renewed investor interest in the group.
The Defiance Quantum ETF (NYSE ARCA: QTUM) gained 0.27% to $152.28, suggesting the session’s momentum was concentrated in the pure-play names rather than a sweeping sector rally.
Broader markets also moved higher, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE ARCA: SPY) rising 0.66% to $769.24 on the same session.
IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave Quantum each take distinct technological approaches, with trapped-ion systems, superconducting circuits, and quantum annealing respectively separating their hardware strategies.
All three companies share heavy research and development spending and continued dependence on capital markets access as the industry works toward error-corrected, fault-tolerant systems.
Quantum computing stocks have experienced sharp swings this year as investors weigh long-term potential against current error rates and limited near-term revenue visibility.
Bank of America’s $60 price target implies meaningful upside from current levels, though IonQ’s Superion system plans for 2027 represent an additional catalyst investors will monitor closely.
Losses persist across the quantum sector as technical hurdles remain, and useful fault-tolerant machines are widely expected to arrive later in the decade.
