I've got bad news and good news for Rigetti Computing (RGTI 15.32%) investors today.
Bad news first: Rigetti stock is plunging 11.6% through 11:30 a.m. ET Friday. And the good news?
Image source: Getty Images.
No bad news for Rigetti Computing
The good news is that there's no specific bad news behind the sell-off -- no earnings reports that missed targets, no analyst downgrades, not even so much as a lowered price target on Wall Street. Instead, Rigetti stock seems to be going down simply because everything tech is selling off today: Bitcoin (BTC 6.31%) is off nearly 5% so far this morning, Nvidia (NVDA 5.93%) shares are off a similar amount, while memory company Micron (MU 11.14%) is down even more.
Basically, what we're looking at here is just a "risk-off" day for the market.
What sparked it? The most likely catalyst seems to be worries over Broadcom's (AVGO 7.00%) earnings report Wednesday night. Broadcom spooked investors when it warned that sales of its artificial intelligence chips will "only" triple in Q3, and not grow even faster, as analysts had hoped.
And now everyone is panicking about everything tech, quantum computing stocks included.
NASDAQ: RGTI
Key Data Points
So, is it safe to buy Rigetti stock?
Just knowing why Rigetti stock is selling off doesn't necessarily mean it's safe to buy it, however. As a technology and as an industry, quantum computing is still in its infancy and probably years away from being a profitable endeavor.
In the case of Rigetti, analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence don't expect profits to arrive as far out as analysts are willing to make forecasts (which is 2030), with the company burning through hundreds of millions of dollars in cash along the way. Before buying this dip, make sure to check your risk tolerance first.
