D-Wave Quantum QBTS, or D-Wave, expects second-quarter 2026 revenues to be modestly higher than the first quarter, with the majority of the year's revenues likely to be recognized in the second half. The pattern reflects the timing of revenue recognition related to systems transactions, the company’s remaining performance obligations (RPOs) and its sales pipeline.
D-Wave notes that the system sales typically involve site preparation, delivery, installation and calibration before it becomes fully operational. These activities often span several months or quarters. The company recognizes a significant portion of revenues when a system is physically delivered, while a smaller portion is recognized over time as installation and calibration activities advance.
This was also seen in the first quarter of 2026, where revenues fell 81% year over year to $2.9 million, as the prior-year period included $12.6 million from the first sale of D-Wave’s annealing quantum computer system. However, first-quarter Bookings climbed to $33.4 million from $1.6 million a year earlier, with commercial customers accounting for more than 31% of Bookings. The balance came from educational and research organizations, led by the $20 million system sale to Florida Atlantic University.
D-Wave’s sales opportunity pipeline more than doubled in dollar value during the first quarter compared with the prior quarter, while the average potential deal size also more than doubled.
As of March 31, RPO related to unsatisfied or partially unsatisfied customer contracts totaled $42.4 million, up 563% from the first quarter of 2025 balance. Approximately 54% of this amount is expected to be recognized as revenues in the next 12 months and 71% within the next two years, with the remainder to be recognized thereafter.
Latest Developments Among QBTS Peers
IBM IBM has signed a definitive agreement to acquire HRL Laboratories, LLC (HRL), a private company jointly owned by Boeing and General Motors. HRL's silicon-spin qubit engineering expertise strengthens IBM’s push to scale increasingly powerful quantum computers. Both superconducting qubits and spin qubits leverage state-of-the-art silicon fabrication, offering credible paths to scaling quantum technologies.
Intel INTC delivered a solid second-quarter 2026, with revenues up 25% year over year, marking its strongest revenue growth in more than 15 years. In the data center AI group, the quarter’s server growth was the strongest on record, while Xeon 6 continues to remain one of the fastest ramping-up products in Intel history, reflecting improving execution and strong customer demand. Intel also made steady progress in its newly announced design services business, with revenues nearly tripling year over year.
The Zacks Rundown for QBTS Stock
Over the past year, QBTS shares have declined 9% compared with the industry’s 17.6% fall.
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D-Wave is trading at a forward, 12-month Price/Sales (P/S) of 91.68X compared with its 164.72X median and the industry average of 3.85X.
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As shown below, analyst estimates for D-Wave’s 2026 and 2027 loss per share have remained stable over the past 60 days.
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D-Wave currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).