Why D-Wave Quantum Stock Popped Today

Shares of quantum computing company D-Wave Quantum (QBTS 6.17%) soared 7.8% in afternoon trading Thursday as of 3:35 p.m. ET. 

Why? Probably because of a press release D-Wave put out yesterday afternoon, saying it’s holding “its first-ever Qubits Japan 2025 quantum computing user conference in Tokyo.”

D-Wave wants to be big in Japan

(Hey, I didn’t say it was a good reason for D-Wave stock going up — just it’s the most likely reason.)

In its press release, D-Wave explains it’s seeing “growing interest and adoption of annealing quantum computing technology across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.”

As the self-proclaimed “world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers, and the only company building both annealing and gate-model quantum computers,” D-Wave thinks now’s a good time to capitalize on that demand… by holding a trade conference in Japan.

Is D-Wave stock a buy?

Slightly more substantively, D-Wave noted it has seen an 83% increase in “bookings for D-Wave’s annealing quantum computing technology in the Asia Pacific region.” And if said bookings translate into revenue for D-Wave, and eventually profits as well, this would be a good thing for the stock.

It’s also not entirely impossible this will happen. Although D-Wave’s annual revenue remains a tiny $22.3 million, revenue is growing quickly of late, up more than 150% over the past year. Still, I’m concerned that even with such rapid revenue growth, D-Wave remains a long way from profitability.

The stock lost more than $280 million over the last 12 months — twice its losses in 2024 alone — and most analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence agree it will be at least 2030 before this company earns its first profit.

D-Wave remains a speculative stock. That may be fine for momentum traders, but serious investors should probably stay away.