After impressive gains in 2025, quantum computing stocks have been less successful in 2026. One of the most popular, Rigetti Computing (RGTI 5.05%), has declined 27% on the year through the week ending Feb. 13.
The question for potential investors with $500 to spare is whether this is an opportunity to buy the dip or just the beginning of a larger correction.
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I lean toward the latter. Pure-play quantum computing companies, including Rigetti, IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantum Computing, took off last year, but they're largely speculative investments.
They don't generate much revenue. Rigetti made just $1.9 million in sales in the third quarter of 2025, a small figure for a company worth $5 billion. And they're all likely several years away, at a minimum, from developing commercially viable quantum computers.
To its credit, Rigetti's quantum computing systems are ultra-fast, currently achieving gate speeds of 50 nanoseconds, about 1,000 times faster than other systems, such as the trapped ion systems favored by IonQ. A faster gate speed means a quantum computer can perform more operations within a given time period.
What Rigetti's systems lack is accuracy. Its 108-qubit system, which is its largest, has achieved a median two-qubit gate fidelity of 99%. Gate fidelity is an accuracy measurement for quantum computing systems. For quantum systems to become widely used, they'll likely need gate fidelity of at least 99.99%, a mark that IonQ has achieved but that Rigetti hasn't. Rigetti has hit 99.7% on its 9-qubit system, but the final hundredths of a percent are exponentially more difficult to achieve.
NASDAQ: RGTI
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I'm not sold that quantum computing companies are that close to commercial viability. In a January 2026 investor presentation, Rigetti management projected that it would have a 1,000-qubit system with over 99.9% fidelity in three to five years.
There are plenty of quality tech stocks with present-day commercial applications and fair valuations. You may want to consider one of them instead of risking $500 on Rigetti.
