What happened
Shares of IonQ, Inc. (IONQ -1.74%), a quantum computing company, skyrocketed higher today after the company released its third-quarter 2021 results. Investors appear to be very happy that management raised IonQ's guidance for full-year bookings guidance for the second time in two months.
The tech stock was up by 35% as of 3:33 p.m. EST.
So what
IonQ didn't list any revenue in the third quarter of last year -- the company just went public on Oct. 1 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger -- and said that sales for for the third quarter of 2021 reached $0.2 million.
The company's losses widened in the quarter to $14.8 million, a significant increase from its loss of $3.5 million in the year-ago quarter.
Image source: Getty Images.
But investors latched onto the company's full-year booking estimates. Management expects that figure to be $15.8 million, at the midpoint of guidance.
This is the second time the company has raised its booking estimates. Back in September, management increased full-year booking estimates from the previous $5 million to a revised $15 million.
But now that IonQ has already surpassed $15 million in bookings at the end of the third quarter, it has now settled on the $15.8 million estimate.
Now what
Including today's gains, IonQ's stock price has soared 189% since it went public last month.
While it's good to see the company surpass its booking estimates and raise guidance, investors should consider that IonQ is still a very young publicly traded company. This may cause the company's share price to experience more volatile swings than some other larger, more established companies.
