IonQ Stock Surges on Quantum Breakthroughs: More Upside Ahead?

IonQ IONQ is rapidly positioning itself as a preferred partner for both commercial enterprises and government institutions worldwide. The company’s global footprint expanded significantly in the just-reported second quarter of 2025, marked by a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s AIST G-QuAT, the country’s premier quantum and AI research center.

In South Korea, IonQ has been designated as the primary quantum partner by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) to support the development of the nation’s National Quantum Center of Excellence. In the United States, IonQ announced a $22 million agreement with EPB to establish the country’s first commercial quantum computing and networking hub, while continuing its work with DARPA to help shape emerging quantum industry standards.

On the commercial innovation front, IonQ achieved a major breakthrough in pharmaceutical research, delivering a 20x performance speed-up in a key drug development workflow through a collaboration with AstraZeneca AZN, AWS and NVIDIA NVDA, demonstrating practical quantum advantage. In the energy sector, the company partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy to address a critical national challenge (the 60% of energy lost due to grid inefficiencies).

These achievements are helping IonQ to build momentum with an expanding roster of blue-chip partners, including NVIDIA, AWS, AstraZeneca, Ansys and General Dynamics.

How IONQ is Positioned Among Peers

International Business Machines IBM: It is strengthening its position in the quantum computing space with the expansion of its Poughkeepsie Quantum Data Center, adding a second Quantum Heron processor that delivers up to 16x better performance and 25x faster speed than systems from just two years ago. IBM also launched the National Quantum Algorithm Center in Illinois, powered by its modular Quantum System Two, positioning the state as a future global quantum hub.

Rigetti Computing RGTI: It is advancing both technologically and financially, achieving a 99.5% median two-qubit gate fidelity on its modular, multi-chip quantum computer, a key milestone in reducing errors and improving scalability. The company also raised $350 million through an at-the-market equity offering, strengthening its cash reserves to support the continued development and expansion of its superconducting quantum infrastructure.

IONQ’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

IonQ shares have gained 27.2% in the past three months, outperforming the Zacks Computer - Integrated Systems industry. 

(Read more: IonQ Secures $1.6 Billion to Power Quantum Projects: Is It a Buy Now?)

IonQ’s forward 12-month price/sales ratio of 80.70 is far above the industry average, as you can see below.

For IONQ, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 loss per share has remained unchanged over the past 90 days at 47 cents, as you can see below. The estimated figure indicates a much narrower loss than the year-ago reported loss of $1.56 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 revenues implies year-over-year growth of 119%. 

IONQ stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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