Could IonQ Stock Be a Millionaire-Maker?

IonQ (IONQ 9.66%) has been one of the market's best-performing stocks over the last year. The quantum computing specialist's share price is up a staggering 252.5% as investors got excited about its technologies and more bullish about growth stocks as a class.

Following on the heels of explosive gains for top artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, there is increased hope that quantum computing will push AI technology even further, revolutionize computing as a whole, and deliver incredible returns for early investors. Does that hope mean IonQ has what it takes to continue its incredible run and turn its shareholders into millionaires?

What makes IonQ stock potentially explosive?

IonQ is working on quantum-computing technologies that could potentially deliver revolutionary processing breakthroughs. The company's trapped-ion systems make use of electric fields to keep ionized atoms in position and allow information to be stored. This type of information storage opens the door for a radically different approach to processing that is measured in qubits.

IonQ expects to rapidly increase the capabilities of its systems in terms of algorithmic qubits (AQ) -- a scoring tool used to identify the number of useful qubits and summarize a system's power and ability to run selected benchmark algorithms.

IonQ plans to launch its Forte Enterprise system this year, which will have an AQ of 35. By the end of 2025, the company expects to deliver Tempo -- its AQ64 system. With the launch of Tempo, IonQ anticipates being able to provide significant commercial advantages for some applications.

For a bit more perspective, the company estimates that a system with an AQ of 64 will provide roughly 34 billion times the computing power of its current AQ29 system.

If the company can sell AQ35 systems to commercial customers this year or demonstrate meaningful progress on its AQ64 system, its shares could continue to soar.

The quantum-computing specialist is a high-risk play

While small-scale quantum computers have already been built, the path to scaling the technology and applying it to real-world applications remains somewhat speculative.

Investors should keep in mind that IonQ could be far away from shifting into profitability, and the business continues to burn cash. In the third quarter, the company posted a net loss of $44.8 million, bringing its net loss across the first nine months of last year to approximately $115.9 million. This was up from a loss of $29.9 million posted across the same stretch in 2022.

With a market capitalization of roughly $2.5 billion, IonQ is trading at approximately 119 times the midpoint of its sales guidance for 2023. Given that the company is in the early stages of product commercialization and continues to work on potentially major tech breakthroughs, its current price-to-sales ratio shouldn't be given too much weight. But it does highlight the highly speculative nature of the stock.

Additionally, IonQ is a relatively small company that faces some resource-rich competitors. While its specialization in quantum computing could give it meaningful advantages, tech giants including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and IBM are also making investments in the space.

Could IonQ stock make you a millionaire?

IonQ aims to deliver breakthrough technologies that could power incredible advancements in computing and AI that would have far-reaching impacts across a wide range of industries. If it succeeds, it will likely deliver incredible returns for shareholders who buy the stock at today's prices.

On the other hand, investors should recognize that the business has an uncertain outlook and faces some big challenges.

IonQ is a risky, highly speculative investment. Some of the same qualities that make it a risky stock also open the door for it to post incredible returns. If the company succeeds with its lofty development and commercialization vision and establishes leadership in a rapidly expanding quantum-computing market, it's not out of the question that the stock could deliver 100x returns over the long term.

In such a scenario, a $10,000 investment in the stock at today's prices would make you a millionaire. But investors should keep in mind there is also a big risk of losing most, or even all, of your initial investment.