Despite its less-than-stellar start, IonQ (IONQ -39.00%) stock ended 2024 on a high note: It closed 237% above the previous year's last trade, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Continued triple-digit revenue growth not only verified commercial demand for its quantum-computing technology, but got investors' attention as well.
Much of that gain's been wiped away just since the beginning of 2025, however. Once a high-profile technology CEO voiced doubts, IonQ stock suddenly declined. Its current price of near $30 per share is more than 40% below its early January peak.
Yet the steep sell-off is more of a buying opportunity than a concern. Here's why.
IonQ continues to gain growth-driven altitude
Quantum computers aren't exactly a new idea. The premise of using subatomic particles' quantum mechanics as the basis for hyperfast computing has been the subject of several successful experiments for years now.
It hadn't been particularly well commercialized, though, until pure play IonQ came along. Revenue-bearing bookings of its quantum-computing platforms began accelerating in the latter half of 2022.
IONQ Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts.
Although most paying customers are only testing to see what they might be able to achieve with this tech, IonQ's clients so far include some impressive names. The list includes the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS); IonQ also has developmental partnerships with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Nvidia (NVDA -0.02%).
Investors couldn't help but take notice of the caliber of commercial interest last year, bidding up shares in anticipation of continued proliferation of its technology.
Then it all came crashing down. Just this week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that useful commercial application of quantum computers was still two decades away. Several quantum computing stocks -- including IonQ -- crashed following his suggestion.
Last year's buyers were on the right track, even if a bit overzealous
Is Huang right?
To be fair, there's still a lot of work to be done. The degree of errors one would expect from such an advanced form of computing is still high, for instance. And it could take time for other would-be clients to figure out how to use this tech differently from more conventional computing or artificial intelligence. The industry needs more accessible software as well.
Do take Huang's skepticism with a massive grain of salt, though. Along with rival quantum-computing company D-Wave Quantum (QBTS -36.13%), IonQ is doing real commercial work in quantum computing right now. Notably, one of D-Wave's current paying customers is Mastercard, which is tapping D-Wave's tech in an effort to reduce fraud, handle cross-border settlement, and more. Meanwhile, IonQ has been successful selling all of the capacity it's added over the course of the past several quarters.
Given that quantum computing is already being monetized, even before it's perfected, Huang's 20-year time frame feels far too pessimistic. This year's discount of last year's big run-up in IonQ shares looks like a prime entry opportunity.
