Shares of quantum computing firm Rigetti Computing Inc RGTI are surging in afternoon trading on Thursday. Here’s what investors need to know.

RGTI shares are powering higher on strong volume. See what is driving the movement here.

What To Know: The positive momentum follows the recent announcement of a major collaboration with Montana State University. The partnership established the Quantum Core Research and Education Center, a new on-campus facility featuring a 9-qubit Rigetti Novera quantum processing unit.

This announcement appears to be resonating with investors, providing a bullish counter-narrative to the company's mixed second-quarter financial results reported in mid-August. Despite missing analyst estimates for the quarter, Wall Street has largely kept its focus on Rigetti's future prospects.

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Analysts have reiterated Buy ratings, pointing to the company’s ambitious goals. Confidence is centered on Rigetti’s technical roadmap, which includes milestones for a 100-qubit system by the end of the year and a 1,000-olus qubit, fault-tolerant system within the next three to four years.

This forward-looking perspective suggests that the market is prioritizing technological progress over near-term financials as the quantum computing landscape continues to evolve.

Benzinga Edge Rankings: Underscoring RGTI’s rally, Benzinga Edge Rankings show the stock has an exceptionally high momentum score of 99.67.

RGTI Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, Rigetti shares are trading higher by 8.41% to $16.68 on Thursday afternoon. The stock has a 52-week high of $21.42 and a 52-week low of 66 cents.

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Besides going to a brokerage platform to purchase a share — or fractional share — of stock, you can also gain access to shares either by buying an exchange traded fund (ETF) that holds the stock itself, or by allocating yourself to a strategy in your 401(k) that would seek to acquire shares in a mutual fund or other instrument.

For Rigetti Computing, it is in the Information Technology sector. An ETF will likely hold shares in many liquid and large companies that help track that sector, allowing an investor to gain exposure to the trends within that segment.

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This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.