Why IonQ Stock Keeps Going Down - The Motley Fool
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IonQ (IONQ 14.06%) stock is in a tailspin. Down six trading sessions in a row, shares of the biggest name in quantum computing (IonQ is valued at $14 billion, more than Rigetti (RGTI 12.88%) and D-Wave (QBTS 14.45%) combined) added 8.8% to their losses Thursday. That's the tally as of 12:45 p.m. ET -- and IonQ stock is still going down. You can blame Wolfpack Research for that. Image source: Getty Images. Wolfpack shorts IonQ Wolfpack is a short seller, so it's perhaps unsurprising to learn that yesterday it published a report urging investors to sell IonQ stock short. Why? IonQ exploded in popularity on the back of massive revenue growth. Five years ago, IonQ did barely $2 million a year in sales, but from 2022 to 2024, sales soared to $11 million, $22 million, then $43 million! (At last report, sales were on course to double again in 2025.) Where to invest $1,000 in 2026? The S&P is at all-time highs. UBS says it could climb to 7,500 by 2026. Meanwhile, Bill Gates is sounding the alarm, warning many investments could be “dead ends."So where should investors put their money right now? That’s the question The Motley Fool’s analysts set out to answer. After weeks of deep research and debate, they just released a brand-new report revealing their 5 highest-conviction stock recs for 2026 and beyond. Continue › But Wolfpack explains in its 33-page short report that "up to 86%" of IonQ's 2022-2024 revenue came from Pentagon contracts that Congress is no longer funding; its largest contract was "completely" stripped from the fiscal 2026 defense budget. This creates "a $54.6 million black hole in [IonQ's] expected quantum computing revenues," warns Wolfpack. The analyst says revenues have not taken an obvious hit yet, only because IonQ has been replacing the canceled government contracts with revenue from "subpar non-quantum computing companies" that IonQ has been acquiring. CollapseIONQNYSE: IONQIonQToday's Change(-14.06%) $-4.97Current Price$30.37IONQYTD1w1m3m6m1y5yPriceVS S&PKey Data PointsMarket Cap$11BDay's Range$29.99 - $34.3752wk Range$17.88 - $84.64Volume94KAvg Vol21MGross Margin-747.41% Is IonQ stock a sell? IonQ lost $1.5 billion in 2025 and burned through $259 million in cash, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Analysts see losses continuing as far out as anyone's making estimates -- and now Wolfpack is questioning whether IonQ can even continue growing profitless revenues. The safest choice today is probably to sell.