Amazon Now Owns Shares of Wall Street's Hottest Quantum Computing Stock

Data is the fuel that keeps Wall Street's engine turning. Unfortunately, the sheer amount of data released by public companies and the U.S. government can sometimes be impossible for investors to digest. It means something of importance can easily fall through the cracks.

For instance, last week marked the deadline for institutional investors with at least $100 million in assets under management to file Form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A 13F is filed no later than 45 calendar days following the end of a quarter and provides a concise snapshot of the stocks Wall Street's savviest money managers have been buying and selling.

What you might not realize is that this filing requirement also applies to some of Wall Street's most influential businesses.

Image source: Getty Images.

For example, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is best known for its world-leading e-commerce platform and its pole position in cloud infrastructure services through Amazon Web Services. But it's also overseeing a $3.5 billion investment portfolio, as of the end of 2025. While this portfolio plays a relatively small role in Amazon's success, it pays, from an investment standpoint, to know where one of Wall Street's "Magnificent Seven" is putting its capital to work (beyond research and development).

In the December-ended quarter, Amazon's 13F shows it opened a new position in Wall Street's hottest quantum computing stock, IonQ (NYSE: IONQ). While this might seem like cause for celebration, there are ample reasons to temper your expectations for IonQ and its peers.

Quantum computing stocks have taken Wall Street by storm

One of the easiest ways to dazzle Wall Street and investors is with a jaw-dropping addressable market -- and quantum computing doesn't disappoint.

The prospect of using specialized computers to solve complex problems that classical computers can't handle is an estimated $450 billion to $850 billion global opportunity by 2040, according to analysts at Boston Consulting Group. Even if this wide-range estimate is only remotely in the ballpark, it would still indicate a sizable addressable market awaits IonQ and its peers.

Quantum Computing 1 Year Returns 🤯$RGTI +6,217% $QBTS +3,912%$QUBT +2,798%$IONQ +670% pic.twitter.com/tzSN5ZqVjj

-- Connor Bates (@ConnorJBates_) October 13, 2025

Another way to excite investors is through the fear of missing out, commonly known as "FOMO." As of mid-October 2025, trailing 12-month returns for the likes of IonQ, Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantum Computing Inc. ranged from 670% to as much as 6,217%!

Brand-name clients and collaborations have also helped quantum computing stocks put themselves on the map over the last year. As an example, Amazon's quantum cloud service Braket and Microsoft's Azure Quantum are both enabling clients to access IonQ's and Rigetti's respective quantum computers. These services are being used to run simulations and test quantum hardware.

But the biggest jolt of excitement for quantum computing stocks came from the release of JPMorgan Chase's $1.5 trillion Security and Resiliency Initiative in mid-October. America's largest bank by total assets outlined 27 sub-areas for financing and/or investment over the next decade -- quantum computing among them.

Given Amazon's history of investing in the businesses it's partnered with, the company's 6,671-share purchase of IonQ stock during the fourth quarter, worth nearly $300,000, makes sense.

Image source: Getty Images.

History is no friend of IonQ (or other quantum computing stocks)

However, altering the timeline changes the story. Although Amazon made a relatively small purchase of IonQ stock in the December-ended quarter, it had previously disposed of its entire 854,207-share stake in IonQ during the third quarter.

To venture a guess, Amazon likely chose to lock in historic short-term gains in IonQ stock during the third quarter and used the significant pullback in its shares during the fourth quarter to reenter the position, albeit to a much smaller degree.

While the argument can still be made that Amazon's purchase of IonQ stock is a positive, history hasn't been kind to companies at the forefront of game-changing technologies.

One reason Amazon may regret reentering this position is that every next-big-thing trend over the last three decades has dealt with a bubble-bursting event. Every game-changing technology has required time to mature and evolve.

Quantum computers are still in the very early stages of commercialization, with IonQ the most successful in terms of generating revenue. But this isn't just an adoption issue -- it's an optimization one. It's going to take years before businesses determine how to maximize their sales and profits from quantum computers. In other words, the table is once again set for investors to overestimate the adoption and/or optimization of a game-changing technology.

Building on this point, neither IonQ nor its peers are anywhere close to generating a recurring profit. With analysts estimating that it'll be several years before quantum computers are more cost-effective for practical problem-solving than classical computers, IonQ is expected to lose money and burn cash. This is a recipe for share-based dilution that can ultimately harm IonQ's shareholders.

History also tells us that members of the Magnificent Seven want their piece of the pie with game-changing innovations. While Amazon and Microsoft have been content to give their quantum cloud customers access to IonQ's specialized computers, we've also seen Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet introduce their respective quantum processing units (QPUs) over the last 14 months.

The Magnificent Seven debuting and testing QPUs is one step closer to these cash-rich companies grabbing share away from unproven pure-play stocks like IonQ. The barrier to entry in quantum computing is smaller than most investors realize, meaning IonQ's leadership position is tenuous, at best.

Though Amazon's welcoming of IonQ's stock back into its investment portfolio is bound to make waves, investors would be wise to temper their expectations.

JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Sean Williams has positions in Alphabet and Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, IonQ, JPMorgan Chase, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.