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Rigetti Computing’s explosive move (RGTI) has its CEO warning investors that the company will need time to post sustainable sales and profit growth.
“Especially because of the hype that’s going on in the quantum computing space and some misstatements being made, including by people in the industry, we have to temper some expectations,” CEO Subodh Kulkarni told me from Rigetti Computing, on Yahoo Finance. Opening offer podcast (video above; listen below).
Kulkarni spoke to Yahoo Finance after attending a New York City conference at investment bank Needham on Tuesday.
“So I have to tell (investors) that it’s not yet time to talk about sales and sales growth because we’re still very much in technology development mode. We have to perfect the technology before we can start to see a real material difference in sales,” explained Kulkarni, who is an engineer by training.
The comments follow a feverish streak of moves in quantum computing stocks, which have drawn momentum traders in recent months amid AI hype.
On Tuesday, shares of Rigetti Computing (RGTI) won 48% andone day, while D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) increased by almost 23% and quantum computing (QUBT) increased by almost 14%.
The shares had fallen the day before after Meta (TARGET) CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan’s podcast that “Very useful” quantum computing is probably a “decade away”. Zuck’s comments were echoed by bassists made by Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang at CES last week.
These big naysayers haven’t gotten to Kulkarni, who has seen his company’s share price rise more than 777% in the past year. The company’s market capitalization now exceeds $2 billion, and its ticker page has ranked among the most active on Yahoo Finance in recent months.
The problem, however, is that Rigetti has never been profitable from its quantum chip-making efforts. It lost $45 million in net worth in the third quarter of last year. Additionally, Rigetti noted in a recent filing that it may need more cash in the second quarter of 2026 to fund its chipmaking ambitions.
Read more: why nvidia’s sale is overblown
Kulkarni made the company need to raise more cash.
“We’re always going to look at what we could potentially do. And so we never want to say we’re not going to do something, because things could change. But as of today, we don’t need to raise any more money for the foreseeable future,” Kulkarni said.
