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Luke Kawa

Quantum computing stocks just erased all their Nvidia-induced losses thanks to D-Wave’s surge

Call it the quantum comeback.

The cumulative market capitalization of pure-play quantum computing stocks IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Quantum Computing hit an all-time high on Thursday, surpassing its closing level on January 6.

That’s the session before Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang opined that it would likely be decades before quantum computers would be “very useful” — remarks that caused traders to flee the group and sparked intense criticism from executives at these companies, like D-Wave CEO Dr. Alan Baratz.

Now, they’re all the way back, and then some. While all of these stocks are well off their 2025 lows, there’s only one that has a higher market cap than it did on January 6: D-Wave, which has seen its value more than double over this period.

In our conversations with Baratz, he emphasized the idea that D-Wave’s approach to quantum (which is more annealing-centric than gate-oriented, though the firm uses both models) has allowed for the company to be much further along in the commercialization process than its peers.

It looks like the message, and the operational results, are resonating.

D-Wave has enjoyed massive gains over the past month, a period in which it booked record quarterly revenues linked to the sale of a quantum computing system in addition to announcing that the next generation of this system is now accessible for potential customers. The company generated more first-quarter revenues than the other three aforementioned firms combined.

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ServiceNow slips despite beating Q4 earnings expectations

Cloud software giant ServiceNow delivered better-than-expected Q4 sales and earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday, though the shares slipped in after-hours trading.  

The company reported:

  • Revenue of $3.57 billion, higher than the $3.53 billion analyst consensus estimate published by FactSet.

  • Adjusted earnings of $0.92 per share vs. the $0.88 analysts expected.

  • Subscription revenue of $3.47 billion vs. the $3.42 billion predicted.

  • Raised guidance for Q1 subscription revenues of between $3.65 billion and 3.655 billion, compared to the $3.58 billion FactSet consensus estimate.

  • Non-GAAP gross margins of 80.5%, a little light compared to the 81.1% FactSet consensus estimate. 

Despite the better-than-expected results, the stock was down after-hours. ServiceNow also announced an expanded AI partnership with Anthropic, in which it will enmesh Anthropic’s Claude models more deeply into its products, alongside its financial results.

Such efforts to more closely associate itself with the AI boom have fizzled so far. ServiceNow shares have plunged 45% over the last year. And investors clearly remain skeptical after the Q4 numbers.

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Southwest climbs on stronger-than-expected 2026 earnings guidance

Southwest Airlines posted its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings after the bell on Wednesday. Its shares climbed more than 4% in after-hours trading.

The airline, one of the big four US carriers, guided for revenue per seat mile to climb “at least 9.5%” in the first quarter, and costs per seat mile to rise 3.5%. It forecast a 1% to 2% boost in capacity for Q1.

For the full year ahead, Southwest said it expects adjusted earnings of $4 per share, ahead of Wall Street estimates of $3.22.

The carrier, which flew its last open-seating flight on Tuesday, posted Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.58 per share, slightly above the $0.57 per share expected by Wall Street analysts polled by FactSet. Southwest’s passenger revenue rose 7.6% to $6.79 billion in the fourth quarter, beating estimates of $6.77 billion.

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