Quantum Computing Stocks On Retail’s Radar Following Last Week’s Underperformance

Quantum computing stocks ended last week in the red, even as the broader market broke a four-week losing streak. However, these companies saw a notable rise in retail investor interest on Stocktwits, ranking among the tech stocks with the highest follower growth last week.

The top brass of major quantum computing companies attended Nvidia Corp.’s (NVDA) “Quantum Day” on Thursday, which was held as part of the latter’s annual GTC event. 

In a conversation with the executives, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang clarified his comments from earlier this January regarding the timing when the technology could be viably applied to real-world problems.

In January, Huang hinted at a 10 to 15-year timeframe.

At last week’s event, the Nvidia CEO said, “This is the first event in history where a company CEO invites all of the guests to explain why he was wrong.” 

The damage-repairing exercise did little to perk up sentiment toward quantum computing stock. The Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of an index that comprises liquid companies in the global quantum computing and machine learning industries, ended the week down 1.3%.

• D-Wave Quantum, Inc. (QBTS), which saw a nice run-up ahead of last week, plunged about 18%. 
• Arqit Quantum, Inc. (ARQQ) climbed 15% last week, although dropping about 25% from Monday’s close of $23.54.
• IonQ, Inc. (IONQ) slipped about 11%.
• Rigetti Computing, Inc. (RGTI) slumped about 20%.
• Quantum Computing, Inc. (QUBT) rose 4%.

 

Quantum Computing bucked the down move as investors reacted to its fourth-quarter results reported after the market closed on Thursday. The company also did not participate in Nvidia’s “Quantum Day” event.

Quantum Computing boosted its retail following by about 9% over last week, D-Wave by 8% and Arqit by about 3%.

Sentiment toward these quantum computing stocks was either ‘extremely bullish’ or ‘bullish,’ except for Arqit.

On Stocktwits, sentiment toward D-Wave stock remained ‘extremely bullish’ (87/100) and the message volume was ‘extremely high.’

QBTS sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits

A bullish watcher was positioning for a move to $40 soon.

Quantum Computing stock elicited an ‘extremely bullish’ reaction (76/100)  from retailers on the platform, an improvement from the ‘bullish’ mood that prevailed a day ago. The message volume stated ‘extremely high.’

QUBT  sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits

Sentiment toward IonQ stock and Rigetti stock remained ‘bullish,’ with the positive mood accompanied by ‘high’ message volume.

IONQ sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits RGTI sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits

On the other hand, the retail mood toward Arqit stock stayed ‘neutral’ (52/100) and the message volume remained ‘extremely high.’

ARQQ sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits

These stocks are on track to open higher in the new trading week. In premarket trading on Monday:

• D-Wave stock climbed 5.02% to $8.78.
• Quantum Computing added 4.47% to $7.72.
• IonQ added 3.10% to $22.95.
• Rigetti stock moved up 2.87% to $9.33.
• Arqit jumped 4.85% to $18.59.
•  QTUM rose 1% to $78.70.

 

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