Why IonQ Inc. (IONQ) Went Up On Friday?

We recently published a list of AI Stocks Dominate Friday’s Top 10 Performers. In this article, we are going to take a look at where IonQ Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) stands against other AI stocks that dominate Friday’s top performers.

The stock market bounced back on Friday, erasing the week’s losses following news that a feared government shutdown is unlikely to happen amid news that a funding plan is likely to be passed.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq recorded the highest gain, adding 2.61 percent, followed by the S&P 500 with a 2.13-percent gain, and the Dow Jones with 1.65 percent.

Ten companies, predominantly under the AI industry, mirrored the broader market optimism, registering strong double-digit gains during the session. In this article, we have named the day’s best performers and detailed the reasons behind their performance.

To come up with the list, we only considered those with $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in trading volume.

A quantum computer on a countertop in an engineering laboratory with a technician at work.

IonQ Inc. (NYSE:IONQ)

Shares of IonQ jumped as high as 18.1 percent at intra-day trading on Friday before ending the day just up by 16.99 percent, marking a bounceback from Thursday’s drop that was dampened by criticisms from a short seller over its valuation, growth projections, and transparency.

In its report on Thursday, short seller Kerrisdale Capital criticized IONQ’s lofty growth projections and questioned the viability of its technology. It said that despite IONQ’s claims of significant technical and commercial milestones, the company was struggling with scalability.

“Although IONQ’s stock price has retreated from its all-time high, it is still trading at a value reaching 40 times its projected revenue for 2026,” the short seller said. “However, we believe IONQ is far from achieving new commercial success.”

In recent news, IONQ was able to raise another $360 million from an at-the-market (ATM) equity offering program, having sold over 16 million common shares.

Following the offer, IONQ said it was able to raise sufficient capital to meet its anticipated needs and recent market conditions.

Overall, IONQ ranks 9th on our list of AI stocks that dominate Friday’s top performers. While we acknowledge the potential of IONQ as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as IONQ but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.