IonQ has been one of the more talked-about names in quantum computing lately, and it’s not hard to see why. Even if it’s a smaller player, it’s built competitive advantages in the space, leaning less on a qubit arms race and more on “better qubits”—fewer, but more connected atoms. That story sounds great on paper.
The problem is, a great story doesn’t automatically turn into a great stock.
Misryoum newsroom reported that IonQ is in a solid position in some ways. It has nearly $2.4 billion in liquidity. In 2025, it logged negative free cash flow of about $300 million, which—on the surface—suggests it could keep going for years without needing fresh outside money. You can almost hear the “so don’t panic” crowd forming in real time.
But then reality shows up. Revenue just tripled to $130 million in 2025, which is real progress. Yet the company also posted a $512 million loss for 2025, worse than the $332 million loss from last year. And that’s where dollar-cost averaging (DCA) starts to look less like a strategy and more like averaging into a falling knife. The runway may be long, sure, but long doesn’t mean directionless.
Misryoum editorial desk noted that part of the risk is tied to how IonQ raised cash. At the end of 2024, liquidity was $340 million. Since the beginning of 2024, however, outstanding shares have risen by 65% to nearly 367 million. During that same window, the stock briefly jumped from less than $19 per share to a peak above $84 per share. That move gave IonQ a chance to issue massive numbers of shares—smart for financing, not so flattering for anyone already holding.
And if you’re trying to DCA into it now? The current stock price is around $29 per share, which basically wiped out the gains from that last year. Actually, it feels worse than that, because investors are now paying after the dilution and after the big run-up already happened. There’s a moment at your desk—phone buzzes, you see the price dip again, you think “maybe I should just buy a little”—then you remember the shares expanded and the losses stayed big. The air in the room gets a little colder. Not dramatic, but you get what I mean.
Misryoum analysis indicates valuation makes it even harder to justify. The price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is now 61—far beyond many fast-growing names. Even with rapid revenue increases, the forward P/S ratio still reads 43 and 28 for the forward one-year P/S ratio. In plain terms: investors are probably overpaying at today’s prices, and that likely won’t change quickly. Meanwhile, IonQ isn’t competing in a vacuum. Large-cap competitors are pushing too. Misryoum newsroom reported that Alphabet has made strides in error correction through its Willow chip. Misryoum editorial team stated that IBM offers a “quantum centric” supercomputing architecture meant to integrate quantum into existing high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
So yes, IonQ has liquidity. But with $2.3 billion tied up in that “future” category, it likely needs a lot of it to go straight into research and development just to stay competitive. If losses keep growing, that can strain the story long term. Given these conditions, Misryoum editorial desk noted investors should not buy IonQ stock even if they want to use DCA.
IonQ may survive for years, and its competitive advantages could still matter. That’s the awkward part—because it’s not a “will it exist?” question so much as a “will it become profitable while competing with tech giants?” question. Also, at 61 times sales, it arguably needs another speculative frenzy to climb from current levels. And… that’s not something you can count on. Until valuation drops to levels comparable with other promising growth stocks, a dollar-cost averaging strategy here doesn’t look smart. Not even close.
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