It's not often that science geeks and Wall Street geeks share a moment of genuine excitement, but D-Wave Quantum Systems' (QBTS stock) announcement last week that it had achieved “quantum supremacy” provided exactly that.
In a March 12 paper published in the journal Science, researchers at D-Wave said they had solved a real-world problem that would take a classical supercomputer millions of years to complete.
The peer-reviewed paper by D-Wave researchers “validates this achievement as the world’s first and only demonstration of quantum computational supremacy on a useful problem,” the company said in a statement.
Not surprisingly, D-Wave’s paper drew praise from some in the science community. “It’s very impressive work,” Physicist Daniel Lidar, director of the quantum computing center at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, told ScienceNews.
“They really managed to perform quantum simulations on their hardware that are beyond the reach of current classical methods.”
While D-Wave’s paper has also drawn some pushback from others in the industry who doubt its claims, investors thus far appear to be convinced.
Shares of QBTS rose 46.9% on Friday. The stock has now gained 24.9% YTD.
D-Wave announced its Q4 earnings the day after its paper was published, beating quarterly revenue projections but reporting a wider loss than had been expected.
Its Q4 earnings of $2.3 million topped Wall Street’s expectation of $2.2 million, according to data from FactSet.
Its full-year revenue of $8.8 million was flat from the year prior and net loss for Q4 was 8 cents a share, which was higher than the expected 6 cents a share.
D-Wave could be a tide that lifts all quantum stocks
Although QBTS stock jumped on the news, it remains to be seen whether the momentum for the stock will continue — and whether it will draw investors to other quantum computing stocks.
Just as ChatGPT was a watershed moment for commercializing AI, could D-Wave’s accomplishment persuade investors that quantum computing is ready to move beyond experimental technology sooner than previously expected?
The immediate results have been encouraging.
Rigetti Computing (RGTI stock) has a five-day moving average of 24.9%, shares of Quantum Computing (QUBT) have surged 80.7% over the same time frame, and IonQ (IONQ) has been up 22.1%.
Quantum Computing will be releasing its Q4 earnings on Thursday.
For D-Wave, the past year brought a significant milestone when it sold its Advantage quantum computing system — the world’s largest quantum computer — to Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) at Forschungszentrum Jülich, a research center in Germany.
The sale helped bring D-Wave’s fourth-quarter bookings to $18.3 million, up 502% from the prior year.
"We believe that D-Wave has the opportunity to be the first independent publicly held quantum computing company to achieve sustained profitability," D-Wave CFO John Markovich said during the company’s earnings call.
According to analysts, the company “is discussing systems sales with three other institutions, though the timing is unclear,” according to Barron’s.
This outlook could be why D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz sounded so confident about the near-term commercialization of the technology during the company’s earnings call.
"At D-Wave, we are seeing first hand the value that quantum is providing today for hundreds of companies," he said. "I’m not talking about 15 or 30 years from now, I’m talking about today."
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