What Happened?
Shares of quantum computing company IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) jumped 12.2% in the afternoon session after several Wall Street firms initiated coverage on the company with positive ratings.
Notably, Jefferies started its coverage with a "Buy" rating and set a price target of $100, highlighting the company's technological edge. This suggested significant potential upside. Adding to the bullish sentiment, analysts at Wedbush and Mizuho also began covering the stock with "Outperform" ratings. They set ambitious price targets of $60 and $90, respectively. This wave of positive assessments from multiple financial analysts, all pointing to IonQ's advanced quantum computing capabilities, appeared to fuel strong investor optimism.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
IonQ’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 97 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for IonQ and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 4 days ago when the stock gained 2.4% on the news that the company announced an expanded agreement with Switzerland's QuantumBasel worth over $60 million.
The extended contract granted QuantumBasel ownership of its existing IonQ Forte Enterprise system and secured a next-generation Tempo system. This deal extended IonQ's on-site presence at the innovation campus through 2029, reinforcing its role as IonQ's European Innovation Center. Adding to the positive news, the company also entered a strategic collaboration with CCRM and CCRM Nordic. This separate partnership was designed to speed up innovation in the field of advanced therapies by applying quantum computing technologies, and included an initial investment commitment by IonQ to support joint projects.
IonQ is up 24.2% since the beginning of the year, but at $53.53 per share, it is still trading 34.8% below its 52-week high of $82.09 from October 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 $4,956.
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