Quantum Computing Stocks IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum Are Sending Shockwaves Through Wall Street With This $931 Million Warning - Yahoo Finance
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Quantum Computing Stocks IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum Are Sending Shockwaves Through Wall Street With This $931 Million Warning Sean Williams, The Motley Fool Thu, May 28, 2026 at 5:26 AM EDT 4 min read 5 IONQ +6.22% RGTI +7.43% QBTS +7.06% Although artificial intelligence (AI) has been Wall Street's hottest trend over the last four years, it's quantum computing stocks that have outperformed AI stocks. As of mid-October 2025, trailing 12-month returns for IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI), and D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS) were up to 6,217%! While sizable addressable opportunities -- Boston Consulting Group foresees quantum computing adding up to $850 billion in global economic value by 2040 -- and early stage deals have investors excited about this new technology, this trio has collectively sounded a $931 million warning that's reverberating through Wall Street. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on a little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly," providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Image source: Getty Images. The people who know quantum computing stocks best are telling a worrisome tale Amid the hype about real-world use cases for this game-changing technology, we've witnessed a pattern emerge among the individuals who know IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave the best: their insiders. An "insider" is a high-ranking executive, board member, or beneficial owner of at least 10% of a company's outstanding shares who may possess non-public information. For the sake of transparency, as well as to follow securities law, insiders are required to file Form 4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission within two days of transacting in their company's stock. In other words, if an insider buys or sells stock, including exercising option contracts, it needs to be filed with regulators. Over the trailing five years, insiders at IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum have been decisive net sellers of their company's shares: IonQ: $576,017,989 in net selling Rigetti: $60,258,276 in net selling D-Wave: $294,956,821 in net selling In aggregate, pure-play quantum computing insiders have sold approximately $931 million more in stock than they purchased since mid-May 2021. The caveat to the above data is that most high-ranking executives and board members receive the bulk of their compensation in stock and/or options. Insiders typically have to sell a portion of their shares to cover their federal and/or state tax liability. Tax-based selling isn't nefarious and shouldn't concern investors. But the other side of the coin is equally disturbing. Whereas several reasons exist to sell a stock, not all of which are inherently bad, there's only one reason for an insider to buy shares of their company: the expectation of future appreciation.
Story Continues Over the same trailing five-year period, IonQ's insiders have spent just $3.35 million buying their company's shares, while insider buying at Rigetti Computing ($625,000) and D-Wave Quantum ($309,080) has been even more anemic.Insiders likely recognize how historically expensive quantum computing stocks are at this early stage of commercialization. Historically, a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 30 for companies at the forefront of game-changing trends has proven unsustainable over the long term. As of this writing on May 22, IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave are trading at P/S ratios of 109, 836, and 791, respectively. Furthermore, history hasn't been kind to next-big-thing trends over the last 30 years. Every hyped trend has endured an early innings bubble-bursting event, brought about by investors overestimating the adoption and/or optimization of an innovation. Quantum computing has neither widespread adoption nor a path to rapid enterprise optimization.Although quantum computing stocks are scorching-hot yet again, the actions of their insiders should give investors pause.Should you buy stock in IonQ right now?Before you buy stock in IonQ, consider this:The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and IonQ wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $472,852!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,317,207!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 984% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 210% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.See the 10 stocks »*Stock Advisor returns as of May 28, 2026. Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends IonQ.
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