D-Wave's Revenue Fell 44% in a Year. Its Market Value Rose 38%.

D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ: QBTS) took in $12.4 million of revenue across the past year, down about 44% from the year before. Over the same stretch, the quantum computing specialist's market value climbed about 38%, to $7.5 billion.

The two lines diverge for an understandable reason. The year-ago period included D-Wave's first sale of a full quantum system (worth $13.7 million, recognized in the first half of 2025), and this year's big sale hasn't reached the revenue line yet.

That bigger sale exists. Bookings for the first half of 2026 came to $35.5 million, up more than 1,100% from $2.9 million a year earlier. The total includes a $20 million system sale whose revenue will be recognized in future quarters. Second-quarter bookings rose 59% year over year to $2.1 million. And remaining performance obligations (contracted work the company hasn't yet delivered) reached $40.7 million at midyear, up 668%. About 57% of that is expected to convert into revenue within 12 months.

Those are arguably the strongest demand figures D-Wave has reported -- and a single system deal can more than double a half-year of bookings, as the $20 million sale just showed.

Image source: Getty Images.

Bookings vs. the price tag

At $7.5 billion, D-Wave's market value runs about 600 times its trailing revenue. Measure the company against everything it has booked but not yet delivered, and the price is still about 190 times that $40.7 million. Even the $35.5 million of first-half bookings amounts to less than half of 1% of the company's price tag.

To grow into that valuation, bookings would need to climb from tens of millions of dollars a year toward billions. They'd also need to convert at the roughly 65% adjusted gross margin the business carries today. And the spending is running well ahead of the sales along the way. D-Wave's net loss for the second quarter of 2026 was $48 million, and its adjusted operating expenses rose 76% year over year as the company invests in its product roadmap.

So the two numbers are less contradictory than they look. Revenue fell because last year had a one-time sale in it. The market value rose as the order book finally started to fill.

But a 59% increase in second-quarter bookings amounts to $800,000, and the price it supports is $7.5 billion. The arithmetic still has years of catching up to do.

Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.