What Happened?
Shares of quantum computing company IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) fell 4.6% in the morning session after investors appeared to take profits as the company announced it achieved a significant technical milestone ahead of schedule.
IonQ reached an algorithmic qubit score of #AQ 64 on its Tempo quantum system, a goal it met three months earlier than planned. This achievement marked a substantial increase in the system's computational power. However, the positive news followed an immense run-up in the stock's price, which had surged 873% over the previous year and had just recently touched an all-time high. The drop suggested that investors who had bought in during the rally decided to sell and lock in their profits after the widely anticipated news was confirmed.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy IonQ? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
IonQ’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 107 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock gained 3.1% on the news that B. Riley Securities raised its price target on the stock to $100 from $75 and maintained its 'Buy' rating. The new price target suggested a potential upside of nearly 37% from its trading level at the time of the announcement. Analyst Craig Ellis's decision reflected a more positive outlook for the company's future performance. This bullish signal from the analyst firm occurred while the stock was already on a strong run. The shares were on their seventh straight day of gains, accumulating a total return of 61% over that period and adding significant value to the company's market capitalization.
IonQ is up 56.8% since the beginning of the year, but at $67.58 per share, it is still trading 10.1% below its 52-week high of $75.14 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of IonQ’s shares at the IPO in January 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $6,257.
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