Is RGTI Worth Buying as Quantum Growth Meets a 98.7x Sales Multiple?

Rigetti Computing, Inc. RGTI is showing measurable commercial progress as demand for its quantum systems broadens and hardware performance improves. The company is also investing aggressively to push its chiplet-based architecture toward larger systems and higher gate fidelity, a measure of operation accuracy.

That opportunity comes with a demanding valuation and an operating model that remains far from scale. For investors weighing whether to buy now or wait, commercial traction must be balanced against losses, execution risk and a premium price.

Rigetti's Sales Growth Shows Commercial Traction

Second-quarter 2026 revenues climbed 185.3% year over year to $5.1 million, driven mainly by sales of 9-qubit Novera systems and related products. The increase shows that on-premises hardware is beginning to contribute more meaningfully alongside development contracts and cloud access.

Rigetti also has an $8.4 million order from India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) for an on-premises 108-qubit system. Management expects to recognize that revenue in the fourth quarter of 2026 after installation and performance acceptance testing, giving the company another sizable system milestone if deployment remains on schedule.

RGTI's Cost Base Still Outruns Revenue

The spending required to advance Rigetti’s roadmap remains much larger than its current revenue base. Second-quarter operating expenses rose 47.9% year over year to $30.3 million, while research and development spending increased 53.3% to $20.7 million.

Operating loss widened to $28.1 million from $19.9 million a year earlier. Management expects research and development spending to increase and 2026 capital expenditures to stay elevated as Rigetti invests in fabrication equipment, dilution refrigeration needed to cool quantum hardware and infrastructure for higher-qubit systems.

Rigetti's Liquidity Extends Its Runway

Rigetti ended the second quarter with $541.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments and no debt. That liquidity gives the company room to fund work on scale, fidelity, system integration and planned infrastructure without an immediate reliance on debt financing.

The balance sheet does not remove execution risk, but it lowers near-term financing pressure while losses remain high. Rigetti can continue funding technical milestones even as commercial revenues remain tied to system deliveries and project timing.

RGTI's Valuation Leaves Little Room for Misses

RGTI trades at 98.7X forward 12-month sales, far above 3.9X for its Zacks sub-industry and 5.0X for the S&P 500. One customer accounted for 64% of second-quarter revenues and another for 16%, while the prospective U.S. Department of Commerce award would involve equity issuance if finalized. That combination leaves little room for delivery or technology delays.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Commercialization across quantum computing is also uneven. IonQ IONQ reported second-quarter 2026 revenues of $80.1 million, showing that some peers have reached a larger revenue base. D-Wave Quantum QBTS reported $3.1 million for the quarter, illustrating that revenue scale still varies widely across competing platforms.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

RGTI's Scores Argue for Investor Patience

The current setup favors patience rather than chasing Rigetti’s long-term technology potential at any price. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), while its Value Score of F, Growth Score of F, Momentum Score of D and VGM Score of F present an unfavorable near-term combination.

Zacks Style Scores are designed to complement the Zacks Rank, not override it. Rigetti’s technical progress and system sales may improve its long-term opportunity, but the current Rank and weak Style Scores, combined with a triple-digit sales multiple and high execution demands, support a cautious wait-and-see stance.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Research Chief Names "Single Best Pick to Double"

From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

This company targets millennial and Gen Z audiences, generating nearly $1 billion in revenue last quarter alone. A recent pullback makes now an ideal time to jump aboard. Of course, all our elite picks aren’t winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

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

Zacks Investment Research