Investor hype around quantum computing recently hit a fever pitch. Stocks like D-Wave Quantum (QUBT +9.41%) soared more than 10x in the last year or so as investors got bullish around recent advancements in quantum computing technology.
But then, in the last month or so, a lot of these gains have been wiped out. D-Wave Quantum stock has quickly fallen 54% from highs, trading back to a price of around $10 a share as of this writing on Nov. 22.
Does that make D-Wave Quantum a millionaire-maker stock for investors who buy today?
NASDAQ: QUBT
Key Data Points
The promise of quantum computing
Quantum computing has a lot of hype around it due to the potential technological breakthroughs it would enable. Using quantum mechanics, these new styles of computers may enable organizations to complete computationally complex problems that would take existing computer systems years to solve. It promises a step-change in capabilities that could bring huge value to society.
D-Wave Quantum is one of the companies working on early-stage quantum computers. The problem is, while these computers are technically functional, they are highly experimental, easy to break, and not scalable to standard computing processes yet. There is a lot of hype for the industry, but not a lot of underlying business results at the moment. Foe example, D-Wave only generated $3.7 million in revenue last quarter.
Image source: Getty Images.
Is D-Wave Quantum a buy?
The stock has a smaller market cap than other quantum computing players, such as IonQ, but at $2.3 billion, it is still trading at quite the premium valuation versus its underlying business results today. It generated $24 million in revenue over the last 12 months, but burned $55 million in free cash flow as it struggles to actually make quantum computing viable.
Betting on D-Wave Quantum stock is simply a gamble that the company will finally be the one to solve the hurdles to quantum computing commercialization. That is not an investing thesis with much meat on the bone, making it unlikely that D-Wave Quantum will be a millionaire-maker stock for your portfolio.
