Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT) Q3: revenue jumps to $9.5M, gross margin turns positive at 4.5%

$QUBT reported revenue of $9.5M for the third quarter, against $5.6M in the second quarter and $384K a year ago, as the photonics, quantum communications and packaging businesses it bought in the first half began to sell. Gross margin turned positive at 4.5%, the net loss was $15.1M, and cash and investments stayed near $1.3B. This recap walks the print against the numbers our /stocks/qubt teardown in the Quantum bubble said to watch: cash, gross margin, backlog and share count.

The print

What moved the numbers:

• Revenue. The release credits Luminar Semiconductors (LSI), NuCrypt and NHanced Semiconductors, all bought in the first half, selling photonic components, quantum communications products and advanced packaging to aerospace, government and industrial customers. Q3 alone ($9.5M) beat the first half ($9.2M).
• Gross margin. Positive for the first time this year, at 4.5%, after -21% in Q2. The company says it is working on manufacturing utilization.
• Operating expenses. $29.0M, up a third from Q2: general and administrative $15.4M, research and development $8.3M, sales and marketing $5.3M, including about $1.0M of acquisition costs.
• Interest income. $13.0M of interest and other income on the investment book covered almost half the operating loss. A year ago, the small profit came from a $9.2M gain on the derivative liability, not from the business.

Over nine months, revenue is $18.7M against $0.5M a year ago, and the net loss $30.9M against $17.1M.

The four numbers the video said to watch

Our QUBT teardown (November 4) priced the company against its cash and named four lines to check in this print.

• Cash. Cash plus short and long term investments is $1.30B, about $5.72 a share on 226.9M shares. Operating cash flow was -$11.7M in the quarter and -$35.0M over nine months; capital spending was $9.4M in the quarter. Most of the cash moved from cash into investments, not out of the company.
• Gross margin. The line turned positive. At 4.5% it is still far below what a components business usually needs to cover $29M of quarterly operating costs.
• Backlog. Down $3.4M in the quarter: the company is shipping more than it is booking, by this measure.
• Dilution. None worth noting in the quarter: 2.8M more shares than in December, and equity stayed near $1.58B.

What else the release says

• Pharma. A commercial agreement with INmune Bio to apply the Dirac optimization machine to clinical data, the company's first pharmaceutical and biotech customer.
• Academia. A framework agreement with Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, with cloud access to Dirac-3.
• The balance sheet after the deals. Goodwill rose to $160.3M from $55.6M in December and intangible assets to $62.1M from $6.5M. Inventory went to $10.6M from $0.4M.
• Other comprehensive loss. $4.8M in the quarter, the mark on the investment book, which does not touch the net loss.

Quantum read-through

The standing QA thesis on /stocks/qubt calls the stock a multi-year option on Dirac adoption and on demand for its thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) foundry, funded by equity, with cash runway as the survival metric. The print moves that read in one way: QCi now has a real, if low-margin, components business, bought rather than built. The quantum machines themselves are still a research and pilot story.

$QUBT's closest correlated names in the QA universe over 252 days are $RGTI (0.90), $QBTS (0.87) and $IONQ (0.84), all in the same bubble. For the group, see the quantum bubble explained. The print came after the close, so the session reaction was not established when this recap was written.

What worked

• Revenue of $9.5M, more than the whole first half.
• Gross margin positive at 4.5%, after -21% in Q2.
• About $1.3B of cash and investments, near the June level.
• $13.0M of interest income in the quarter.
• No meaningful dilution in the quarter.

What broke

• Operating loss. -$28.6M, wider than Q2's -$23.0M, as operating costs rose a third.
• Net loss. -$15.1M, against -$11.8M in Q2.
• Backlog. $39.1M, down from $42.5M.
• Growth source. The revenue jump comes from acquired businesses; the release gives no split between them and QCi's own quantum products.
• The tape. A $6.86 close on November 9 before the release, down 1% over a month, 23% over three months and 47% over a year in the data QA tracks.

What to watch

• Next earnings. Q4 and full year 2026, expected in March on QCi's usual cadence (not yet confirmed).
• Gross margin as the acquired lines reach higher utilization.
• Backlog and bookings, and whether Dirac contracts start to show in revenue.
• Cash and investments against the quarterly operating cash outflow.
• Levels. No curated level on QUBT; the level map on the stock page uses auto-computed Fibonacci lines only.

The teardown video, the level map and the peer table live on /stocks/qubt. The desk's full read in one document is the QUBT Teardown Dossier, included in Pro.

To follow the quantum names as a group, see the Quantum bubble. Rule-based alerts on the cohort are part of /pro.

Educational research on structural market dynamics. Not investment advice. QuantAbundance positions may change without notice.