Key Highlights
- Q2 revenue reached $5.14 million, surpassing the $5.09 million analyst projection and marking a significant increase from last year’s $1.8 million.
- Shares declined 4.4% during extended trading hours following the earnings announcement.
- The company’s operating loss expanded to $28.1 million compared to $20.4 million in the prior-year period.
- Earnings per share registered a $0.05 loss, falling short of the anticipated $0.03 loss per Zacks estimates.
- The company maintains a strong balance sheet with $541.3 million in cash reserves and zero debt obligations as of June 30.
Rigetti Computing delivered second-quarter revenue of $5.14 million, exceeding Wall Street’s projection of $5.09 million. This represents a substantial increase compared to the $1.8 million generated during the corresponding quarter of the previous year. However, the top-line outperformance failed to prevent shares from sliding 4.4% in Thursday’s after-hours session.
Year-to-date, the stock has declined approximately 24.2%, significantly trailing the S&P 500’s 12.8% gain during the same timeframe.
The stronger-than-expected revenue performance was primarily fueled by increased quantum system sales. These sophisticated on-premise installations command multi-million-dollar price tags and represent a crucial growth engine for the business.
The company disclosed that it’s actively executing orders for systems powered by its Novera processor, including a substantial contract with an Indian research institution. Additionally, Rigetti is preparing to deploy a quantum computing system to the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, supported by funding from the National Science Foundation.
This deployment extends the company’s ongoing collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Expanding Operating Deficits
While revenue demonstrated strong momentum, profitability challenges intensified. Rigetti recorded a $28.1 million operating deficit during the second quarter, expanding from the $20.4 million loss posted in the comparable period last year.
On an adjusted basis, the company reported a loss of $0.05 per share, matching last year’s result but failing to meet the Zacks consensus forecast of a $0.03 loss. This translated to a negative earnings surprise of 66.67%.
On a more favorable note, the company closed the quarter with a debt-free balance sheet and held $541.3 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.
For perspective, IonQ recently reported quarterly revenue of $80.1 million. In after-hours trading, D-Wave Quantum shares edged down 0.1%, while IonQ decreased 0.9%.
Government Funding Deal Remains Unsigned
A critical development investors are monitoring involves a preliminary agreement with the Commerce Department disclosed in May. The proposed arrangement would provide Rigetti with $100 million in government funding in return for an equity position in the company.
During Thursday’s earnings call, management confirmed the agreement remains under negotiation and has not been formally executed.
The company employs a superconducting quantum computing platform and is advancing a chiplet-based design strategy, which management believes will enable the construction of more powerful systems while maintaining lower error rates.
Earlier in the year, the company postponed the launch of its Cepheus-1-108Q system to ensure certain performance benchmarks were achieved.
Analyst forecasts for the upcoming quarter project a loss of $0.05 per share on revenue of $3.92 million, with full-year expectations calling for an $0.18 loss per share on $25.33 million in revenue.
Zacks has assigned RGTI a Hold rating (Rank 3), indicating the stock is anticipated to track broader market performance in the near term.
Get 3 Free Stock Ebooks
Discover top-performing stocks in AI, Crypto, and Technology with expert analysis.
- Top 10 AI Stocks - Leading AI companies
- Top 10 Crypto Stocks - Blockchain leaders
- Top 10 Tech Stocks - Tech giants
