Why D-Wave Quantum Stock Popped Today

Why D-Wave Quantum Stock Popped Today

Rich Smith, The Motley Fool

Thu, September 17, 2026 at 8:40 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• QBTS +9.53%
• NVDA +2.57%

D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ: QBTS) stock jumped 9.2% through 1 p.m. ET Thursday after announcing last night that it will host the Qubits Asia 2026 Quantum Computing User Conference in Seoul on Oct. 28, 2026.

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Seriously? That's it?

Seriously. That's all the news it took to send D-Wave stock up more than 9% today. D-Wave said at the conference it will "showcase production applications, customer momentum across APAC and advancements in D-Wave's annealing and gate-model quantum computing technologies."

Presumably, all this will generate positive PR for the company. It may even generate some sales for D-Wave -- but that's not guaranteed. In the absence of any other positive catalysts, and in the presence of the fact that the U.S. Federal Reserve just announced its first interest rate hike in three years, and seems intent on raising more, today's share price spike seems an overreaction to me.

The problem with D-Wave stock

So here's the situation in a nutshell. D-Wave Quantum is not a profitable quantum computing stock. D-Wave is unprofitable, is on course by some measures to lose more money this year than last, and may lose more next year than this year.

Analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, who follow D-Wave stock, think it will keep on losing money as far out as anyone can see -- at least through 2030. What's more, D-Wave has only $546 million in the bank and is forecast to burn more than $560 million over the next five years. (So by the time 2030 rolls around, D-Wave could also be out of money.)

Conferences are fun and all, but they can't replace profits. Until D-Wave finds a way to earn some of those, the stock's a sell in my book.

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Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Why D-Wave Quantum Stock Popped Today was originally published by The Motley Fool