Critical Survey: IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) versus Plum Acquisition Corp. I (NASDAQ:PLMI)

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) and Plum Acquisition Corp. I (NASDAQ:PLMI) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares IonQ and Plum Acquisition Corp. I’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IonQ	$22.04 million	68.79	-$157.77 million	($0.83)	-8.64
Plum Acquisition Corp. I	N/A	N/A	-$30,000.00	N/A	N/A

Plum Acquisition Corp. I has lower revenue, but higher earnings than IonQ.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for IonQ and Plum Acquisition Corp. I, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IonQ	0	3	3	0	2.50
Plum Acquisition Corp. I	0	0	0	0	N/A

IonQ currently has a consensus target price of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 130.13%. Given IonQ’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe IonQ is more favorable than Plum Acquisition Corp. I.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

41.4% of IonQ shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.9% of Plum Acquisition Corp. I shares are held by institutional investors. 11.6% of IonQ shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 71.0% of Plum Acquisition Corp. I shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares IonQ and Plum Acquisition Corp. I’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IonQ	-671.00%	-31.76%	-28.17%
Plum Acquisition Corp. I	N/A	N/A	-9.03%

Summary

Plum Acquisition Corp. I beats IonQ on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IonQ

IonQ, Inc. engages in the development of general-purpose quantum computing systems in the United States. It sells access to quantum computers of various qubit capacities. The company makes access to its quantum computers through cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Braket, Microsoft's Azure Quantum, and Google's Cloud Marketplace, as well as through its cloud service. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in College Park, Maryland.

About Plum Acquisition Corp. I

Plum Acquisition Corp. I does not have significant operations. It intends to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is based in San Francisco, California. Plum Acquisition Corp. I operates as a subsidiary of Plum Partners, LLC.