Rigetti Computing narrowly beat second-quarter revenue forecasts as sales of its quantum system picked up speed, though widening losses and ongoing commercialization costs sent the stock lower Thursday.
Revenue growth was an encouraging place to start. Rigetti posted total revenue of $5.14 million for the second quarter, a sharp increase from the $1.8 million reported in the year-ago period, and narrowly ahead of analysts' calls for $5.09 million. The company reported revenue of $4.4 million in the first quarter of 2026.
Shares fell 4.6% in after-hours trading following the report. IonQ and D-Wave slipped 1.5% and 0.2%, respectively.
It's worth noting that the figure is still a fraction of what some industry peers are generating. IonQ, for instance, posted $80.1 million in revenue for its latest quarter, fueled by demand for its physical systems as well as its cloud services.
Rigetti began selling its earliest on-premises systems in 2021, eight years after its founding. The company faced a setback at the start of this year, when it delayed the release of its Cepheus-1-108Q system as it targeted certain technical milestones.
Other updates in 2026, however, have been more encouraging, such as signs that Rigetti was growing system sales. This optimism extended into the latest quarter: Rigetti said Thursday that it was fulfilling recently announced orders for systems using its Novera processor, as well as a major order to an Indian research center.
The company said Thursday that it also plans to deliver a quantum computer to the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center's new TangleLab testbed, funded by a National Science Foundation grant. The deployment builds on an existing strategic partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Still, Rigetti's losses continued to widen. The company posted a $28.1 million operating loss for the second quarter. While that's wider than the $20.4 million loss the company reported last year, the change could be worse. D-Wave Quantum, for instance, doubled its operating loss in the latest quarter.
Rigetti's per-share loss, adjusted for one-time items, was five cents, in line with consensus views. The company, like its peers, continues to operate at a net loss as it works to improve its technology, with broader industry-wide commercialization expected before the end of the decade.
One of the strongest validations of Rigetti's technology came in the form of a letter of intent with the Commerce Department. Under its terms, Rigetti will receive $100 million in federal funding in exchange for an equity stake in its business consistent with the award amount. Rigetti indicated Thursday that the agreement has yet to be finalized.