Stock Market Today, May 26: D-Wave Quantum Falls Even After Commerce Department $100 Million Funding
D-Wave Quantum (NYSE:QBTS), a quantum computing systems and services developer, closed Tuesday at $27.81, down 5.25%. The stock is moving as traders react to recent CHIPS and Science Act funding headlines and consider the stock’s already lofty valuation.
Trading volume reached 54.2 million shares, coming in about 78% above its three-month average of 30.4 million shares. D-Wave Quantum IPO'd in 2020 and has grown 174% since going public.
How the markets moved today
The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) added 0.62% to finish Tuesday at 7,519, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) rose 1.19% to close at 26,656. Within quantum computing, peers saw mixed action as IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) closed at $63.62 (-0.06%) and Quantum Computing (NASDAQ:QUBT) finished at $11.61 (-5.12%), underscoring ongoing volatility across speculative growth names.
What this means for investors
Investors piled into D-Wave Quantum stock late last week after it announced $100 million in new funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Shares of D-Wave and other quantum computing names pulled back today, however, after Flatiron Institute researchers challenged the superiority of quantum computing simulations over classical computing.
The institute, which focuses on advancing scientific research, claimed that classical computers are capable of addressing a category of problems once thought to be solvable exclusively by quantum computers. D-Wave responded in a press release, disputing the claim, stating that the researchers used an algorithm that is “not effective across the full range of problem classes studied in D-Wave’s Science paper,” which showed simulation quantum superiority.
The dispute highlights just one risk associated with quantum stocks like D-Wave, which already have success built into their pricey valuations.
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Howard Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends IonQ. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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