Why Did D-Wave Quantum Stock Fall?

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Shares of D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) fell 65.4% in the twelve months to October 27, 2026, trailing the 13.6% return of the S&P 500 over the same period. The decline spanned a full year of earnings reports, beginning with the third-quarter 2025 results on November 6, 2025, and ending with the second-quarter 2026 release on August 6, 2026. So what changed in D-Wave’s own business over that year?

D-Wave’s Sales Turned Down In 2026

D-Wave finished 2025 with growing sales, reporting on February 26, 2026, that fourth-quarter 2025 revenue was up 19.2% from a year earlier. The first-quarter results on May 12, 2026, showed revenue down 80.9% from a year earlier, because the year-earlier quarter included an unusually large amount of sales. The company had generated about $15 million in that year-earlier quarter, bringing in more than the next three quarters of 2025 combined.

The decline did not deepen in the latest quarter. On the August 6 call, management said second-quarter revenue of $3.1 million was essentially flat with a year earlier.

D-Wave’s slide was part of a broader drop in quantum computing stocks. In October, law firms filed a putative securities fraud class action against D-Wave on behalf of purchasers who acquired shares between February 26 and August 25, 2026, alleging that the company overstated its business and system delivery prospects. Over the same twelve months, Rigetti Computing lost 69% and IonQ lost 48%.

Selling Less, D-Wave Is Also Losing More

D-Wave generated $12.4 million in revenue over the twelve months to June 2026, down from $22.3 million in the twelve months before. The company’s operating loss widened over the same period to $171 million, from $78.7 million. Management said its adjusted EBITDA loss in the second quarter grew mainly because of staff costs for faster product development and sales.

Selling whole systems generated most of D-Wave’s revenue in fiscal 2025, accounting for $16.2 million of its $24.6 million in revenue. Management expects the fourth quarter of 2026 to bring in the majority of its 2026 revenue, because that is when it expects its systems to ship.

Even after the stock decline, D-Wave’s market value is 362 times its sales over the last twelve months, compared with 3.2 times for the S&P 500. This price appears to assume that D-Wave will sell many times what it sells today.

What D-Wave Still Has: Cash And Contracts

Despite the share price fall, D-Wave is not short of cash. The company held $546 million in cash and short-term investments at June 30, 2026, against $48.1 million of debt. Its cash was more than four times the $120 million of free cash flow D-Wave used over the twelve months to June.

On the August 6 call, management said it still expects to ship two annealing quantum computer systems in 2026. Both are likely to ship in the fourth quarter, including one system for Florida Atlantic University.

D-Wave is expected to report third-quarter results in November 2026. Its backlog of signed contracts, which stood at $40.7 million at the end of June against $5.3 million a year earlier, is the number to watch.

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