1 Quantum Computing Stock That Looks Like a Screaming Buy Right Now

1 Quantum Computing Stock That Looks Like a Screaming Buy Right Now

Keithen Drury, The Motley Fool

Sat, August 22, 2026 at 8:50 PM GMT+3 4 min read

• IONQ +8.02%
• NVDA -0.98%

Quantum computing may seem like a technology of the distant future, but it's rapidly becoming a reality. There are many pioneers in this space that are developing it toward what they hope will be a practical and useful technology, and IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) is among the best. IonQ stock is also trading well below its all-time highs, making it seem like a great stock to buy now.

The market is in a risk-off state, but if that flips, IonQ could rally to new highs, making today a perfect time to buy a company that's among the front-runners in the race to bring viable quantum computing technology to market.

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IonQ has a long way to go

Quantum computing is possible, but at this stage, the results it generates are not reliably usable.

Every quantum computer is built around qubits -- their fundamental units of data calculation -- which are incredibly sensitive to outside interference. Tiny amounts of "noise" in the system can cause qubits to change state, rendering the results of their calculations inaccurate.

Because of this, error reduction and error mitigation are two of the chief challenges that every player in the quantum computing space is focused on.

Right now, IonQ's technology is the best in the world at delivering accurate results. It boasts a 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity measurement. But that's still a long way from the level of accuracy delivered by classical computers.

IonQ is working to develop a fault-tolerant 10,000-qubit quantum computer, which it believes to be the minimum size necessary for a system that could reliably deliver a quantum advantage compared to today's supercomputers and achieve mainstream viability. Currently, its 256-qubit system is undergoing testing, and it's expected to be a huge step forward for early adopters.IonQ is also working with numerous customers and partners that are helping it fund its research and develop a commercially viable product.

In Q2, IonQ's revenue jumped 287% year over year to $80.1 million. While acquisitions fueled some of that growth, management projects greater than 100% organic growth for the year. Organic growth only measures the gains from business units that were part of the company in the prior-year period. That's a much cleaner way of assessing business success; otherwise, growth rates could be artificially inflated through continuous acquisitions.

However, the market isn't as excited about quantum technology's potential right now as it has been. As a result, IonQ's stock is down over 40% from the all-time high it touched at the end of 2025 -- the last time the market was in a risk-on state.

Devoting a small portion of your portfolio to quantum computing could result in impressive gains, and IonQ is my favorite pure play in the space. It's a leader in the quantum computing world, and it's doing exactly what it said it was going to do. It think it's a smart stock to load up on here, as the market will eventually cycle back to being less risk averse.

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Keithen Drury has positions in IonQ. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends IonQ. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

1 Quantum Computing Stock That Looks Like a Screaming Buy Right Now was originally published by The Motley Fool