Rigetti Computing Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI) is seeing a significant surge in market enthusiasm despite reporting fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of analyst expectations.

Technical Milestones Eclipse Revenue Miss

According to Benzinga Edge Stock Ranking data, the company’s momentum score spiked from 84.04 to 91.90 week-on-week, placing the quantum hardware leader in the top 10% of stocks for relative price strength.

The momentum shift follows a fourth-quarter earnings report where Rigetti posted $1.87 million in revenue, missing the consensus estimate of $2.34 million. However, investors appear focused on technical validation rather than short-term sales.

The company announced a breakthrough, achieving 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity at a 28-nanosecond gate speed. This milestone is critical for entanglement and positions Rigetti’s superconducting architecture as a high-speed alternative to slower ion-based modalities.

Benzinga Edge Stock Ranking fro RGTI.

A $590 Million ‘Quantum Runway’

A primary driver for the momentum spike is Rigetti’s fortified balance sheet. The company ended 2025 with $589.8 million in cash and investments, a massive increase from the $270 million held the previous year.

Management confirmed this capital provides a “sufficient runway” to execute its roadmap through 2027 without requiring additional debt during its earnings call.

Scaling Toward Quantum Advantage

Rigetti remains on track to deploy its 108-qubit chiplet-based system by late March 2026, targeting 99.5% median two-qubit fidelity. Looking further ahead, the company plans to scale to a 1,000-plus qubit system by 2027.

With new purchase orders from research institutions in India and Japan, Rigetti is successfully transitioning its “open modular architecture” into a global commercial pipeline.

RGTI Drops Over 19% YTD

Shares of RGTI have fallen by 19.82% year-to-date, while the Nasdaq Composite index has declined by 1.84% in the same period.

The stock was 17.46% higher over the last six months and 125.95% over the year. On Thursday, the stock was 3.43% lower in premarket.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Image via Shutterstock