D-Wave Quantum: Record Backlog and Nasdaq Debut at Odds With a Steep Stock Rout
Published on 07/20/2026 at 09:03 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
D-Wave Quantum heads into its Nasdaq listing this week carrying a record $42.4 million in customer order commitments, a stark contrast to a stock that has surrendered nearly two-thirds of its value since October. The company will leave the New York Stock Exchange after the close on July 24 and begin trading on the Nasdaq on July 27 under the same ticker symbol QBTS, a voluntary move that CEO Alan Baratz framed as a natural fit for a firm “shaping the technology of the future.”
The stock closed Friday at EUR 14.69, down roughly 31% over the past 30 days and 62% below its 52-week high of EUR 38.48. The relative strength index of 30.9 puts the shares just inside oversold territory, while the annualized 30-day volatility of nearly 79% highlights the extreme price swings that have become typical for this quantum computing name. The slide has been broad: peers such as IonQ and Rigetti experienced similar turbulence before recovering on cooler inflation data.
The operational picture, however, tells a very different story. D-Wave’s remaining performance obligations — the contracted work yet to be recognized as revenue — jumped 563% year-over-year to $42.4 million. Yet first-quarter revenue amounted to just $2.9 million, underscoring the gap between a surging order book and actual sales. The company’s quarterly results, expected in early August, will be the first real test of whether that backlog can translate into accelerating top-line growth.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying D-Wave Quantum?
Beyond the commercial build, D-Wave is pushing deeper into next-generation hardware. Its subsidiary Quantum Circuits received a $1.57 million grant from the National Science Foundation for the ERASE project, a collaboration with Yale University aimed at developing fault-tolerant quantum hardware. The investment complements the company’s dual-platform strategy, which combines its established annealing systems with a growing focus on gate-model architectures.
Insider activity drew attention this month, though not for reasons of executive sentiment. Baratz sold 52,320 shares on July 14 in a non-discretionary transaction designed solely to cover tax obligations from vesting restricted stock units. He continues to hold roughly 3.2 million direct shares, more than a million of which remain unvested.
Financially, the company remains deep in the red. Trailing twelve-month revenue stands at $12.4 million against a net loss of $368 million, with the first-quarter operating loss widening to $54.7 million from $11.3 million a year earlier. Despite those figures, the market capitalisation is roughly EUR 5.42 billion, reflecting the long-duration bets investors are placing on quantum computing’s eventual commercial breakthrough.
Analysts have stayed bullish through the selloff. Mizuho raised its price target to $35 with an Outperform rating after D-Wave updated its gate-model roadmap. Rosenblatt reiterated Buy at $43, and Stifel confirmed Buy at $35, citing the transition to a dual-platform strategy. Whether that optimism can withstand another quarter of operating losses — and whether the Nasdaq switch will draw the technology-focused capital Baratz expects — will become clearer when the company reports early next month.
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