NEW YORK, Feb 27, 2026, 11:45 EST — Regular session in progress.
- IonQ dropped roughly 10% on Friday, giving back some of its 21.7% surge from the previous session.
- Quantum computing company is projecting its 2026 revenue will land somewhere between $225 million and $245 million.
- March investor conferences are on traders’ radar, as is the SkyWater deal timeline.
IonQ dropped 10.3% to $36.67 late Friday morning, paring gains from the rally sparked by its positive revenue forecast in the previous session. 1
The pullback is notable—IonQ’s stock tends to track swings in investor sentiment for publicly traded quantum companies, and one earnings report can flip the script in a matter of hours. Shares soared Thursday, but by Friday, trading suggested investors were adjusting their positions rather than reacting to new developments, balancing hopes for growth with a ramped-up spending outlook.
IonQ posted $61.9 million in fourth-quarter revenue late Wednesday, with full-year 2025 revenue coming in at $130.0 million. The company projects 2026 revenue between $225 million and $245 million, and it sees first-quarter revenue at $48 million to $51 million. CEO Niccolo de Masi described 2025 as a “strategic and financial inflection point.” IonQ also forecast an adjusted EBITDA loss for 2026—excluding factors like stock-based compensation and revaluations—of $310 million to $330 million. 2
IonQ on Thursday highlighted its role in Romania’s national quantum communications push, calling its deployment one of Europe’s biggest operational quantum key distribution networks. Quantum key distribution—QKD—transmits encryption keys via quantum signals, a method built to reveal unauthorized snooping. 3
Investors have their eyes on IonQ’s pending deal for SkyWater Technology, still awaiting regulatory sign-off. The company expects the transaction to wrap up in either the second or third quarter of 2026. IonQ’s calendar includes the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 4, followed by the Cantor Global Technology & Industrial Growth Conference on March 11. 4
Shares of other quantum-computing names slumped Friday as well. Rigetti Computing dropped 9.7%, while D-Wave Quantum was down 11.5% in late morning trading, Stock Analysis data showed. 5
The setup is a double-edged sword. IonQ’s forecast for 2026 points to quicker revenue gains, but with adjusted EBITDA losses expected to widen, spending remains aggressive. Swings in the stock? Those can make any stumble feel bigger.
IonQ, in a separate filing this week, registered more shares linked to its employee equity plans — standard procedure, though it can sharpen investor worries about dilution when growth names turn to stock-based compensation. 6
Looking to the week, traders are set to track how management handles the March conference circuit—scrutiny will be on any tweaks to messaging around demand, margins, and the SkyWater timeline. The other question: can the stock keep its recent momentum now that focus is turning from the headline revenue outlook toward actual first-quarter execution?
