IonQ Q2 2026 Earnings Tomorrow: Time to Buy Stock, Wait or Sell?

IonQ IONQ is scheduled to release its second-quarter 2026 results tomorrow, after market close, amid rapid strategic execution and expansion efforts. However, elevated valuation following the stock's sharp second-quarter rally and broader volatility across high-growth technology stocks may weigh on investor sentiment heading into the earnings release.  

IonQ’s stock surged 91.7% during the April-June quarter of 2026, supported by strong first-quarter results, raised full-year revenue guidance and the acquisition of SkyWater Technology to vertically integrate quantum chip manufacturing.

The company also expanded international partnerships in hybrid quantum-HPC systems, advanced quantum networking and interconnect technologies, broadened participation in government-supported initiatives and continued execution of its full-stack quantum computing roadmap.

IonQ earnings beat estimates in one of the trailing four quarters and missed on the other three occasions, the average negative surprise being 174.04%.

How are things shaping up for the second-quarter earnings release? Let’s take a closer look.

April-June Share Performance of IONQ

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How Are Estimates Poised for IonQ?

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter EPS has remained unchanged at a loss of 29 cents per share over the past 60 days. The estimated figure indicates a 58.6% improvement from the year-ago loss per share.

The consensus mark for second-quarter revenues is pegged at $66.4 million, indicating 220.7% year-over-year growth.

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What to Expect From IonQ's Q2 Results

IonQ entered the second quarter of 2026 with strong momentum following a solid first-quarter performance. First-quarter revenues surged 755% year over year, exceeding guidance. The company raised its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to $260-$270 million from the prior $240-$260 million, reflecting continued commercial execution and improving revenue visibility.

For the second quarter of 2026, IonQ guided revenues of $65-$68 million, implying sequential growth supported by continued system deployments, expanding commercial adoption and conversion of its growing remaining performance obligations (RPO).

Operationally, demand in the second quarter is expected to have remained high, supported by the company's fifth-generation Tempo quantum system, expanding multi-product customer engagements, rising international adoption and continued growth in quantum networking, security and hybrid quantum-classical deployments.

During April, IonQ also announced third-party validated benchmarking results highlighting its quantum systems' time-to-solution advantages and demonstrated the first connected commercial quantum computers through quantum interconnect technology, reinforcing its technology leadership.

IonQ exited the first quarter with $470 million in remaining performance obligations, providing improved revenue visibility. However, profitability is likely to have remained under pressure in the second quarter as the company continues investing aggressively in research and development, manufacturing capacity, commercialization efforts and next-generation quantum systems while maintaining its full-year EBITDA outlook.

The second-quarter performance is likely to have been driven by continued backlog execution, commercial system deployments, cloud utilization, expanding enterprise and government demand and ongoing traction across IonQ's broader quantum platform. However, broader investor sentiment toward pure-play quantum computing stocks remained volatile during the April-June quarter as elevated valuations, profit-taking following sharp first-quarter gains and weakness across high-growth technology stocks weighed on the sector despite improving company fundamentals.

Competitive Positioning

Rigetti Computing RGTI: Heading into the second-quarter results (scheduled for Aug. 6), Rigetti remains focused on commercializing its superconducting quantum platform. The company recently launched its 108-qubit Cepheus-1 system on Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services and Amazon Braket while continuing to advance chiplet-based architecture and error mitigation capabilities. A proposed U.S. government award to support quantum R&D also strengthens its long-term outlook. Second-quarter revenue growth is expected to have been tied to system deployments and customer adoption. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

D-Wave Quantum QBTS: In the second quarter, D-Wave is expected to have continued converting bookings into revenues, reflecting the phased recognition of multi-year contracts. The company remains focused on expanding adoption of its Advantage2 annealing platform while advancing its gate-model quantum computing roadmap. Continued enterprise and government engagement, supported by a proposed U.S. government award, is expected to strengthen long-term demand. Quarterly results may remain uneven due to contract timing. QBTS is slated to release second-quarter 2026 earnings on Aug. 6. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

What the Zacks Model Unveils for IONQ Stock

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for IonQ this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 or 3 increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here.

Earnings ESP: IonQ has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: The company currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

IONQ's Valuation

The stock is currently trading at a lofty forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 41.79, which is significantly higher than the sector average of 6.28. This exceptionally high forward P/S ratio raises the risk of a sharp pullback if second-quarter results or the guidance for the rest of 2026 disappoint.

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Our Take

IonQ entered the second quarter with strong momentum, supported by raised full-year guidance, expanding commercial adoption and a growing backlog. Revenue guidance of $65-$68 million points to continued growth. However, elevated investments and the stock's premium valuation may keep profitability and investor sentiment under pressure. A cautious stance ahead of earnings appears warranted, consistent with its Zacks Rank.

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

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