Wedbush Initiates IonQ at $75 as First Foundry - Era Earnings Arrive Tonight

IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) surged roughly 9% on Monday, August 4, as Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson initiated formal coverage of the quantum computing company with an Outperform rating at $75 — implying nearly double the stock's price at the time of the call — and investors positioned ahead of what may be the most consequential earnings report in the company's public life. Tonight, after the US market closes, IonQ is scheduled to release its second-quarter 2026 financial results, followed by a Q2 earnings call confirmed at 4:30 PM ET — the first time the company will report as a vertically integrated enterprise, with semiconductor foundry SkyWater Technology now operating as its wholly owned subsidiary after the acquisition closed July 31. Wedbush's initiation is the first formal new institutional coverage IonQ has attracted in recent weeks. Bryson, who ranks among the top 1% of Wall Street analysts by performance tracking, built Bryson's $75 Outperform target on a 10-year discounted cash flow model using a weighted average cost of capital of 22% and a terminal growth rate of 5%. His thesis rests on a specific structural argument: IonQ's trailing revenue of approximately $187 million makes it trailing revenue dwarfs rivals roughly 15 times…