Quick overview
- Rigetti Computing shares fell sharply after disappointing third-quarter revenue of $1.4 million, significantly below analyst expectations.
- The company announced a leadership restructuring aimed at improving operational execution and customer deployments.
- Despite a brief recovery above $13, the stock’s rebound reversed, raising concerns about Rigetti’s commercial progress in quantum computing.
- Investors are looking for evidence of stronger commercial traction following the leadership changes and revenue shortfall.
Rigetti shares reverse sharply after a brief recovery above $13, as disappointing third-quarter revenue and leadership changes add to concerns surrounding the quantum computing company’s commercial progress.
RGTI Stock Falls After Q3 Earnings
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) shares have struggled in recent weeks, falling close to $9 last week amid weakness across technology stocks, disappointing Big Tech earnings and growing political backlash against data-centre expansion following the Democrats’ midterm victories.
The stock staged a recovery over the past two sessions, climbing back above $13 ahead of its third-quarter earnings report. However, the rebound reversed on Tuesday, with shares falling before the announcement and extending losses in after-hours trading following disappointing results.
Rigetti reported third-quarter revenue of just $1.4 million, significantly below the FactSet analyst estimate of $3.5 million. The substantial revenue shortfall raises further questions about the company’s ability to translate quantum computing development into meaningful commercial growth.
Q3 2026 Financial Highlights
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Total revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2026 were $1.4 million.
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Total revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2026 were $10.9 million, compared with $5.2 million for the first nine months of 2025, representing growth of approximately 110%.
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Operating loss for the three months ended September 30, 2026 was $33.2 million.
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For the three months ended September 30, 2026, GAAP net loss was $3.1 million and non-GAAP net loss was $20.5 million.
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For the three months ended September 30, 2026, GAAP diluted net loss per share was $0.08 and non-GAAP diluted net loss per share was $0.06.
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As of September 30, 2026, cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments totaled $497.1 million. The Company had no debt.
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Full-year outlook: 2026 revenue expected to be approximately $20 million, up significantly from 2025, assuming C-DAC customer acceptance and associated revenue recognition in the fourth quarter.
Management Comments
“Rigetti delivered meaningful progress during the third quarter across system performance, technology development and strategic execution,” said Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti CEO. “Our Cepheus-1-108Q system achieved our goal of 99.5% median two-qubit gate fidelity, demonstrating continued performance improvement at the 100-plus-qubit level and further validating our chiplet-based approach to scaling superconducting quantum computers.
“We also signed a definitive $100 million agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce,” Dr. Kulkarni continued. “Building on the progress achieved this quarter, our next major system objective is to demonstrate a 300-plus-qubit system with approximately 99.7% median two-qubit gate fidelity and gate speeds below 60 nanoseconds by mid-2028.”
Rigetti ended the third quarter of 2026 with a strong cash position and no debt, providing flexibility to continue investing in its technology roadmap and customer opportunities.
Leadership Restructuring Targets Execution
Alongside its earnings release, Rigetti announced a leadership restructuring designed to improve operational execution, customer deployments and next-generation processor development.
Former CTO David Rivas will become Chief Operating Officer, overseeing systems delivery, fabrication operations, software, supply chains and government programmes. Andrew Bestwick, previously head of the Quantum Systems group, will take over as CTO, focusing on hardware engineering, chip fabrication and future processor architectures.
The company is also establishing a dedicated Systems Delivery organisation to separate customer installations from longer-term engineering and research.
While the changes could improve execution, investors will want evidence of stronger commercial traction. With revenue missing expectations and the recent rebound reversing, RGTI remains vulnerable to further selling pressure.
Skerdian Meta
Lead Analyst
Skerdian Meta Lead Analyst.
Skerdian is a professional Forex trader and a market analyst. He has been actively engaged in market analysis for the past 11 years. Before becoming our head analyst, Skerdian served as a trader and market analyst in Saxo Bank’s local branch, Aksioner. Skerdian specialized in experimenting with developing models and hands-on trading. Skerdian has a masters degree in finance and investment.
