D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ:QBTS) Shares Down 6.4% Following Analyst Downgrade

D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NASDAQ:QBTS)’s share price dropped 6.4% on Tuesday after Zacks Research downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating. The company traded as low as $19.46 and last traded at $19.53. Approximately 12,840,482 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 29,045,033 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.87.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on QBTS. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of D-Wave Quantum in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of D-Wave Quantum in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered D-Wave Quantum from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of D-Wave Quantum from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $35.00 target price on shares of D-Wave Quantum in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, D-Wave Quantum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John M. Markovich sold 328,752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $9,106,430.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,442,820 shares in the company, valued at $39,966,114. This trade represents a 18.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Alan E. Baratz sold 687,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $17,967,693.51. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,299,771 shares in the company, valued at $86,223,016.23. This represents a 17.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 1,340,817 shares of company stock worth $35,352,133 in the last 90 days. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fiduciary Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of D-Wave Quantum during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of D-Wave Quantum by 388.0% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 776 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of D-Wave Quantum by 545.5% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511 shares during the period. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in D-Wave Quantum in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, PeakShares LLC bought a new stake in D-Wave Quantum during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.47% of the company’s stock.

D-Wave Quantum Trading Down 1.1%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 20.42 and a current ratio of 20.55. The company has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.21 and a beta of 2.15.

D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ:QBTS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.02). D-Wave Quantum had a negative return on equity of 26.67% and a negative net margin of 2,001.59%.The business had revenue of $3.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. D-Wave Quantum’s revenue was down 0.6 on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that D-Wave Quantum Inc. will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

D-Wave Quantum Company Profile

D-Wave Quantum Inc (NYSE: QBTS) develops and provides quantum computing systems, software and services focused on quantum annealing technology. Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, D-Wave designs specialized processors that leverage quantum mechanics to solve complex optimization and sampling problems. Since its founding in 1999 by physicists including Geordie Rose, the company has pursued the development of commercially viable quantum hardware and accompanying software tools.

The company’s product portfolio centers on its quantum annealers, which are complemented by hybrid solvers that integrate classical and quantum computing resources.