Quantum stocks rip as IonQ discloses new contracts, hits benchmark milestones

It’s World Quantum Day, so why wouldn’t quantum stocks be ripping?

Shares of IonQ and its quantum computing peers surged Tuesday as IonQ disclosed new contracts and a new set of benchmarks, investors poured back into retail traders’ favorite stocks, and the mood in the markets was decidedly risk-on. IonQ was up over 20% at points in midday trading, with today marking its best day since February 26, when it jumped 21.7%.

D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Quantum Computing also rose sharply. All of them are still down by more than 50% from their peaks in October.

IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi said in a CNBC appearance that the company made four recent announcements that are boosting the stock:

“First one was an increase of our partnership with Air Force Research Lab — meaningful contract win. Second one was an increase in our partnership with the University of Maryland — meaningful contract win. Third one was of course the DARPA contract.”

And the fourth, he said, was the company’s new benchmark results.

“We released our benchmarks, which is really probably the most important thing for the sector, around the cost dissolution and time dissolution using our quantum computers, which we believe lead the industry on both metrics considerably.”

Of course, he also acknowledged, “Our stock’s up partially because of World Quantum Day.”