Why IonQ Stock Is Skyrocketing Today

IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) stock is surging in Thursday's trading after the company published its third-quarter results. The quantum-computing specialist's share price was up 34.6% as of 1:30 p.m. ET.

While IonQ's loss in Q3 came in higher than anticipated, sales were significantly better than expected. In addition to the sales beat, the company also announced a major new acquisition and gave forward financial performance guidance that has Wall Street feeling very bullish.

Strong sales momentum and big acquisition news power explosive gains for IonQ

Ionq posted a loss of $0.24 per share on revenue of $12.4 million in Q3. Meanwhile, the average analyst estimate had called for a per-share loss of $0.23 on revenue of roughly $10.2 million. Revenue was up roughly 103% year over year in the quarter, and the company recorded $63.5 million in new bookings in the quarter.

In addition to the Q3 sales beat, IonQ announced that it was partnering with Ansys to bring quantum computing to the computer-aided-engineering (CAE) industry.

IonQ also aired the quarterly release with some big acquisition news. The company announced yesterday that it is on track to acquire quantum-networking company Qubitekk. The deal is expected to close in the next six months and to improve IonQ's positioning in quantum networking hardware and security. The deal could be a sign that IonQ is looking to accelerate commercialization initiatives and roll out quantum-computing systems for cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) processing.

What's next for IonQ?

For the full year, IonQ is guiding for revenue to be between $38.5 million and $42.5 million. Previously, the company had guided for sales to come in between $38 million and $42 million. Meanwhile, the average analyst estimate had called for sales of roughly $40.5 million. The company continues to expect that bookings will be between $75 million and $95 million.

IonQ stock is now up roughly 79% across 2024's trading, and the company is valued at roughly 117 times this year's expected sales. While IonQ has been posting encouraging sales growth and securing new partnerships, its growth-dependent valuation and speculative outlook means that the stock is a high-risk, high-reward play.

If IonQ delivers quantum-computing breakthroughs and continues to move toward wide-scale commercialization, the company's stock will likely deliver incredible returns for investors who buy shares at today's prices. On the other hand, charting the progression and competitive evolution of the quantum technologies space involves a huge amount of guesswork. IonQ is making some encouraging progress, but investors should approach the stock with the understanding that the company's performance outlook is uncertain.

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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Ansys. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.