Despite quantum chip progress and $497 million in cash, Rigetti CEO sees commercialization roughly three years away.

  • Rigetti’s Q3 revenue of $1.4 million missed estimates, and its adjusted loss per share was also worse than expected. 
  • Despite 110% revenue growth over nine months, its $20-million 2026 outlook fell short of the $22.78 million consensus. 
  • Rigetti CEO Subodh Kulkarni said quantum computing needs further development before businesses can commercially invest. 

Rigetti Computing (RGTI) stock fell overnight after its third-quarter (Q3) results and 2026 revenue outlook disappointed investors, overshadowing a 110% year-to-date revenue increase and progress in quantum chip performance. Despite achieving 99.5% fidelity on its 108-qubit system, retail investors questioned its prospects. 

Rigetti Computing stock traded 2.3% lower in Wednesday’s premarket. The stock tumbled 6% on Tuesday. 

Rigetti’s Q3 Financial Performance Misses Street Expectations

Rigetti recorded $1.4 million in revenue during Q3, missing analysts’ consensus estimate of $3.52 million, according to Fiscal.ai. However, for the first nine months of 2026, revenue reached $10.9 million, more than double the $5.2 million recorded during the corresponding period last year.

The company reported an operating loss of $33.2 million in Q3. Its net loss was $3.1 million. Rigetti reported an adjusted loss of $0.06 per share, again missing the estimate of a loss of $0.05 per share.  

As of Sept. 30, Rigetti had $497.1 million in cash and investments and no debt. The company expects 2026 revenue of around $20 million, below analysts’ estimate of $22.78 million. 

Rigetti CEO Says Quantum Computing Commercialization Is Still Years Away

Rigetti's Cepheus-1-108Q quantum computer achieved 99.5% median accuracy in two-qubit operations during Q3, meeting the company's target and supporting its chiplet-based design approach. 

During the Q3 earnings call, Rigetti CEO Subodh Kulkarni said Data center operators need clear proof that quantum computing can deliver better returns than traditional computers before investing in it, whether through cloud services or their own facilities. However, he added that the technology has not reached that stage yet. 

“Our general view is that quantum computing still is very much in R&D phase. We need to perfect the technology before we can really expect commercial sales to take off,” said Kulkarni. 

Rigetti has secured an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce in September for an award worth up to $100 million under the CHIPS Act. 

What Are RGTI Retail Traders Saying 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the stock slipped to ‘neutral’ from ‘bullish’. The stock recorded a 444% surge in message volume over the past 24 hours.  

A user said, “Didn't folks catch that they reduced FY26 Guidance from 22M to 20 on Revenue? They're 3 years away but IONQ is already there. This will dump even harder at some point. There're better Quantum plays than this.”

Another user said, “Missed on earnings, missed on revenue, revenue declined from previous quarters. People lie numbers don’t.” 

A third user said, “How the hell can this have a market cap of $4.4 billion when revenues are non existent? $4.3 billion based on hope that they produce some revenues in like 5 years? What a bloated joke of a stock.” 

RGTI  stock has crashed 45% year-to-date. 

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