IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $64.18.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on IONQ shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $49.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of IonQ in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of IonQ from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st.

IonQ Price Performance

IonQ stock opened at $44.91 on Friday. IonQ has a fifty-two week low of $25.89 and a fifty-two week high of $84.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $39.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.01. The firm has a market cap of $17.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.64 and a beta of 3.30.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by $0.23. IonQ had a negative return on equity of 22.29% and a negative net margin of 553.27%.The company had revenue of $80.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.70) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 286.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that IonQ will post -2.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Key IonQ News

Here are the key news stories impacting IonQ this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Real-time error-correction breakthrough: IonQ demonstrated a real-time quantum error-correction decoder that can run on a standard CPU. Investors view the development as a potential solution to a major obstacle in building fault-tolerant, commercially useful quantum computers. IonQ shares rally after quantum breakthrough
• Positive Sentiment: NVIDIA collaboration adds validation: IonQ plans to deploy its Superion 256 system at NVIDIA’s Accelerated Quantum Research Center, connecting the quantum processor with NVIDIA AI infrastructure through NVQLink. The deal strengthens IonQ’s credibility and could support hybrid AI-quantum computing applications. IonQ to deploy first quantum computer at NVIDIA research center
• Positive Sentiment: New university contract expands commercial footprint: Florida International University selected IonQ’s 256-qubit Superion platform for installation, marking the first planned deployment of the system in Florida and expanding IonQ’s on-premises academic customer base. Miami’s first quantum computer coming to FIU
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and trading support: Wedbush assigned IonQ an Outperform rating, while elevated call-option activity indicated increased speculative and bullish interest. The technology news also lifted other quantum-computing stocks, reinforcing sector momentum.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commercialization remains the key test: Coverage describes IonQ as a leader in quantum accuracy and full-stack development, but investors are debating how quickly the breakthroughs will translate into recurring revenue and profitable deployments. Quantum stocks near Q3 finish line
• Negative Sentiment: Financial risks temper enthusiasm: IonQ remains unprofitable, with a deeply negative net margin and continuing expected annual losses. Commentators also warn that the stock’s valuation is difficult to justify based on current revenue, leaving it vulnerable to profit-taking and interest-rate pressure despite the technical progress.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Raymond sold 2,407 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.21, for a total transaction of $89,564.47. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 77,741 shares in the company, valued at $2,892,742.61. The trade was a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Archer Investment Corp bought a new stake in IonQ in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Accent Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 171.8% during the 4th quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 587 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of IonQ by 216.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. PeakShares LLC bought a new stake in IonQ in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, EFG International AG bought a new stake in IonQ in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. 41.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IonQ Company Profile

IonQ, Inc is a quantum computing company that develops and commercializes quantum computers based on trapped-ion technology. Its systems are designed to perform specialized computations that may be difficult for classical computers, with potential applications in areas such as optimization, materials science, drug discovery, artificial intelligence and financial modeling.

The company provides access to its quantum processors through cloud platforms, including Amazon Web Services’ Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum and Google Cloud.