Jefferies Says IonQ Stock Can Double Over the Next 12 Months. Should You Buy It Here?

Core Viewpoint - Jefferies has initiated coverage of the quantum computing sector with a bullish outlook, particularly on IonQ, setting a price target of $100, indicating a potential upside of approximately 110% from current levels, and assigning a "Buy" rating [1] Company Overview - IonQ specializes in developing trapped-ion quantum computers aimed at addressing complex challenges in business, society, and scientific research, leveraging 25 years of academic research to achieve longer, more sophisticated calculations with fewer errors compared to competitors [2] Market Position and Partnerships - IonQ is the first quantum hardware provider integrated with all major cloud platforms, enabling accessible quantum computing through collaborations with Amazon's AWS, Microsoft's Azure, and Alphabet's Google Cloud, targeting applications in chemistry, medicine, finance, and logistics optimization [3] Technical Advantages - Analyst Kevin Garrigan highlights that IonQ is poised to benefit from strong ecosystem tailwinds that are driving the adoption of quantum computing, with its trapped-ion architecture offering advantages in coherence, fidelity, and native all-to-all connectivity as the technology evolves [4] Future Roadmap - IonQ's strategic roadmap aims for fault-tolerant quantum computing, targeting the integration of 256 qubits by 2026, scaling to 10,000 physical qubits and 800 logical qubits by 2027, and ultimately achieving 2 million physical qubits with 80,000 logical qubits by 2030 [5] Financial Performance - In its third quarter, IonQ reported nearly $40 million in revenue, surpassing guidance by 37% and achieving a year-over-year growth of 222%, reinforcing its position as a leader in the quantum computing space [6] Technical Milestones - IonQ's fifth-generation Tempo system has achieved an algorithmic qubit score of 64, creating a computational space 36 quadrillion times larger than IBM's leading commercial system, and has demonstrated a world-record two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.99%, meeting all key technical milestones necessary for full fault tolerance [7]