D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ: QBTS) has a real business, but its valuation of nearly $4.5 billion assumes far faster growth than its sales suggest. Revenue was $3.1 million last quarter, flat year over year. The company's backlog stands at $40.7 million, including a $20 million system sale booked in the first quarter. It lost $48 million in the second quarter and ended June with $546.2 million in cash and securities. D-Wave's quantum annealing technology suits optimisation tasks such as scheduling and routing. It is now pursuing gate-based systems after acquiring Quantum Circuits. A bullish case of 50% annual sales growth would lift 2031 revenue to about $323 million. A bearish case of 15% growth would yield about $85 million; at 10 times sales, D-Wave would be worth only $850 million.

D-Wave Quantum stock has fallen 70.8% over the past year, while the S&P 500 gained 17.4%. Investors still pay 353 times sales for the stock, against 3.1 times for the index. The company expects most of its 2026 revenue in the fourth quarter, when it plans to ship two annealing quantum computer systems. D-Wave prices each at $20 million to $40 million, while its revenue for the twelve months to June 30, 2026 was $12.4 million, down 44.2%. Cloud customers are moving into production. Production applications made up over 37% of first-half cloud subscription revenue, against 9.8% a year earlier, and second-quarter subscription revenue rose 50% to $1.9 million. D-Wave held $546 million in cash and short-term investments against $48.1 million of debt. It burned $120 million over the twelve months, leaving about 4.5 years of cash.

Investors in D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ: QBTS) have until December 14, 2026 to seek lead plaintiff status in a federal securities class action against the company. The suit covers those who bought the company's securities between February 26, 2026 and August 25, 2026. The complaint alleges D-Wave and its executives overstated the company's business and financial prospects, making public statements that were false or misleading. On August 6, D-Wave reported second-quarter revenue of $3.08 million, down from $3.1 million a year earlier and below analyst estimates of $4.03 million to $4.08 million. The stock fell 9.28% to $19.41. On August 25, the company said chief financial officer John Markovich was retiring effective September 2. The shares fell 9.51% to $17.51 the next day. Law firm Faruqi & Faruqi issued the reminder.