Rigetti Computing (RGTI) ended the trading week on a down note, with shares falling 7.37% on Friday to close at $17.85. The decline pushed the stock roughly 5.8% below its closing price from the prior Friday, as the broader quantum computing sector faced a broad sell-off.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.5% on Friday, contributing to a weekly decline of 0.1%. High-beta technology stocks remained under pressure, and the Russell 2000 index of small-cap companies dropped 2.4% for the week, reflecting a risk-off mood among investors. Quantum computing names were particularly hard hit: IonQ (IONQ) fell 9.6%, D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) dropped 8.1%, and Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT) slid 10.4% during the session.
Rigetti's trading volume was elevated following its earnings release, with 49.5 million shares exchanged on Tuesday and 26.9 million on Friday. The stock had rallied 8.29% on Monday but gave back those gains as the week progressed.
The company reported first-quarter revenue of $4.4 million, up from $1.5 million in the year-ago period, while its operating loss widened to $26.0 million. As of March 31, Rigetti held $569.0 million in cash, cash equivalents, and available-for-sale investments, providing a solid financial cushion for ongoing development.
CEO Subodh Kulkarni highlighted continued execution on the company's strategy, including the rollout of the 108-qubit Cepheus-1-108Q processor to its Rigetti QCS platform, as well as to Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum, and qBraid. The company also shipped a 9-qubit Novera quantum processing unit to the University of Saskatchewan during the quarter. Kulkarni noted growing adoption among government, academic, and commercial users.
Analysts remained generally positive but trimmed some price targets. Mizuho lowered its target to $27 from $33 while maintaining an outperform rating. Needham kept its buy rating and $31 price target after the earnings report.
Market sentiment turned cautious, with Slatestone Wealth chief market strategist Kenny Polcari telling Reuters that the market had "gotten way ahead of itself." Rising Treasury yields and oil prices added further pressure on higher-risk stocks, including those in the quantum computing space.
Investors are now looking ahead to CEO Kulkarni's appearance at the Canaccord Genuity Virtual Quantum Symposium on May 21 at 12:00 p.m. ET. The event will be closely watched for additional details on Rigetti's technology roadmap and commercial progress.
Despite the near-term headwinds, Rigetti faces two key tests: converting customer orders into reliable, recurring revenue, and delivering improved gate fidelity as promised. So far, the stock price has been driven more by faith in the company's long-term roadmap than by current earnings performance.
