IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Lowered to "Strong Sell" Rating by Zacks Research

Key Points

• IonQ has been downgraded from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating by Zacks Research, reflecting growing concerns among analysts regarding the stock's performance.
• Despite the downgrade, several other analysts, including Oppenheimer and Needham & Company, have issued positive ratings and price targets ranging from $60 to $80, indicating mixed sentiment in the market.
• IonQ's recent earnings report showed a significant increase in revenue (up 81.6% year-over-year) but a substantial earnings miss, reporting ($0.70) EPS compared to the consensus estimate of ($0.13).

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of IonQ in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of IonQ from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of IonQ in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $58.33.

IonQ Stock Performance

Shares of IonQ stock opened at $79.35 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $23.55 billion, a PE ratio of -39.48 and a beta of 2.60. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $50.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.57. IonQ has a 1 year low of $8.97 and a 1 year high of $82.97.

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.70) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.57). IonQ had a negative return on equity of 67.11% and a negative net margin of 885.21%.The business had revenue of $20.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. The business's revenue was up 81.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that IonQ will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Masi Niccolo De sold 16,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.40, for a total value of $715,728.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,181,186 shares in the company, valued at $52,444,658.40. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kathryn K. Chou sold 6,789 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.14, for a total transaction of $292,877.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 60,839 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,624,594.46. This trade represents a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 185,665 shares of company stock valued at $8,223,268. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of IonQ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in IonQ by 15.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,446 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,064,257,000 after purchasing an additional 3,269,482 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in IonQ by 15.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,338,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,422,000 after purchasing an additional 705,301 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in IonQ by 15.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,255,681 shares of the company's stock valued at $225,837,000 after purchasing an additional 688,663 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in IonQ by 648.5% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,674,348 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,317,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in IonQ during the second quarter valued at approximately $114,767,000. 41.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IonQ Company Profile

IonQ, Inc engages in the development of general-purpose quantum computing systems in the United States. It sells access to quantum computers of various qubit capacities. The company makes access to its quantum computers through cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Braket, Microsoft's Azure Quantum, and Google's Cloud Marketplace, as well as through its cloud service.

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