Why Rigetti (RGTI) Stock Is Surging Toward New Highs—And Is It Buyable at $26? 

Rigetti is one of a select group of pure-play publicly listed quantum computing firms. They give exposure via equity to a technology that major players including IBM, Google, and the U.S. government are investing to make commercially viable and a strategic asset. Rigetti designs superconducting quantum processors and provides access to those quantum computers via its cloud, using their Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform.

The company generated roughly $4.8 million in revenue during Q1 2026, largely through government contracts and from the use of their cloud platform, a revenue number that doesn't seem like it could ever make a compelling valuation based on a multiple. The real value here is in the optionality on the tech.

The Q1 business update highlights why the revenue number isn't key. Rigetti has delivered a 36-qubit quantum computer to an important government client, a significant commercial milestone that shows Rigetti's ability to design, manufacture, and deploy quantum computers outside a research lab. Additionally, several new commercial pilot programs are testing out hybrid quantum-classical applications, in areas including optimization and machine learning as well as molecular simulation for drug discovery.

CEO Subodh Kulkarni's approach to the near term has centered on delivering specific quantum advantage use cases as opposed to the longer timeline of delivering fault-tolerant quantum computers, and an approach that could help speed up Rigetti's journey to commercial revenue generation.

Rigetti's next generation, Lyra quantum computer, which will launch in 2026, is expected to feature more than 100 qubits with higher fidelity. It isn't necessarily the number of qubits that matters, as IBM has developed quantum computers in the thousands of qubits. Focusing more on qubit quality, such as coherence times and error rates, matters most here. Rigetti's modular superconducting architecture is specifically designed to scale up their number of qubits while maintaining the error performance that's necessary to achieve true practicality. A system with more than 100 highly-fidelity qubits would significantly expand the types of quantum computing tasks that can be performed for commercial applications, and optimization and simulation in particular are where quantum computing advantages should be achieved in the near term.

The macro theme is very much supportive. IBM's quantum chip foundry awarded by the $1B CHIPS act this week demonstrated that the U.S. government views quantum computing as a strategic national technology that requires domestic investment. Rigetti similarly benefits from the National Quantum Initiative and the CHIPS act, through both government funding and grants specifically for their research, development and domestic manufacturing capabilities.

IBM's quantum foundry award, in a sense, assigned a government price tag on the strategic value of quantum computing infrastructure, which in turn is re-rating the entire sector of quantum computing firms, including Rigetti at this early stage. The concern that investors may have here is that the company is still early in their timeline to generating commercial revenue and needs to be funded in the meantime, with their cash burn and funding runway a central investor issue. Rigetti is, by most measures, early stage, and will need funding over the years it needs to reach their Lyra milestone.

On a 2H, RGTI made a solid push higher, breaking out the resistance at the 2.618 Fibonacci extension of $26.97. In the process, the stock cleared the red descending trendline and moved past the previous range of $18 to $22. All of that was accomplished in one single leg, with confirmation by volume. The RSI is currently sitting at 77 to 81. It is in overbought territory, but with no divergency. 

RGTI Price Chart - Source: Tradingviews

In momentum breakouts where the RSI is in overbought but not diverging, it usually means there is still further upside. Resistance is at $28.69 to $29.91, and if those levels are surpassed, the next Fibonacci targets sit at $28.65 (Fib 3.0) and $31.36 (Fib 3.618). Support sits in the $24.26 to $22.58 zone, which coincides with prior swing highs which have turned into support levels.

Trade plan

• Entry: Long over $26.99, 2.618 Fib breakout confirmed.
• Target 1: $28.65 to $29.91, The 3.0 Fib and horizontal resistance levels
• Target 2: $31.36, The 3.618 Fib extension
• Stop: Daily close under $24.26, The prior swing high support is no longer support

Rigetti builds superconducting quantum processors, which can be accessed over the cloud using Rigetti’s cloud-based platform, Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services. The stock has been jumping after it broke the 2.618 Fibonacci extension level of $26.97. The breakout was confirmed on a surge in volume and strong bullish candles on a 2H chart, as well as a series of powerful bullish engulfing candles.

The breakout comes in the wake of Rigetti delivering a 36-qubit system to a leading US government agency in Q1 2026, the announcement of a 100-plus qubit system, Lyra, targeting the final quarter of 2026, and the wider quantum computing sector receiving a re-rating following IBM’s $1 billion CHIPS Act award to build a quantum foundry.

Lyra, which has been targeted for deployment late in 2026, will be Rigetti’s next-generation processor aimed at delivering 100-plus qubits with high fidelity. The point isn’t the number of qubits so much as the quality of them, how long their coherence time is, how accurate their gates are, and their error rates. This allows for a wider range of commercially useful problems that the quantum processor can solve. Rigetti’s modular superconducting processor is scalable, which means that it can deliver higher qubit counts while also delivering the high level of low error performance that it needs for real-world computation in optimization, simulation, and hybrid machine learning applications.

This is a high-risk high-reward momentum play on a pre-commercial company that is generating $4.8 million a quarter in revenue. The technicals look good. The 2H chart shows a clear breakout above 2.618 Fib with a surge in volume, and no bearish divergence between price and RSI, which is hovering at 77 to 81. Fib targets are $28.65 to $29.91 and then $31.36 above the $26.99 breakout level, and the stop loss for any trade above $26.99 would be placed at the level of $24.26. From the fundamentals side, Rigetti is pre-commercial. We’re essentially making an investment in the option value of quantum computing working out, supported by some government contracts and the Lyra roadmap.

RGTI stock should be bought on a technical breakout, not fundamentals. Quarterly revenue of $4.8 million certainly doesn’t justify trading at $26. You’re buying this stock on the potential that superconducting quantum computing ends up working out in the next 3 to 5 years, Rigetti’s Lyra processor will deliver 100-plus high-fidelity qubits, and the $1 billion CHIPS Act quantum foundry award to IBM signals that there will be a government-backed quantum computing funding environment to keep the more early-stage companies like Rigetti going until the industry reaches commercialization. 

The breakout above 2.618 Fib of $26.97 on the 2H chart looks good, with volume confirmation and no RSI divergence. Targets for a trade above $26.99 are $28.65 to $29.91. The stop loss for that trade would be at $24.26.