Over the past week, spot prices at the Waha gas trading hub in the Permian Basin fell as low as -$9.75 per million British thermal units, with expectations that it could hit -$10 when pipeline capacity tightens as operators perform seasonal maintenance later this year, traders told Bloomberg. 

That’s because drilling in the prolific Permian Basin yields both oil and natural gas. But while an extensive network of pipelines exists to bring crude to market, there’s less infrastructure to transport natural gas, creating bottlenecks and localized surpluses.

As a result, negative gas prices aren’t that unusual in West Texas, and have been that way more often than not so far this year. But last week saw the lowest weekly average Waha spot price on record.

Since negative prices mean producers have to pay to someone to take the supply off their hands, excess natural gas is often burned off, and so-called flaring events this season are at five-year highs.

Despite the upside-down price environment for West Texas drillers, they aren’t expected to pull back production because oil is lucrative enough to offset losses from gas.

And the recent spike in crude since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran started makes oil even more profitable. West Texas Intermediate has shot up 47% to nearly $100 a barrel in the last three weeks.

By contrast, other parts of the world have seen natural gas prices surge due to disruptions from the Iran war. Tehran has retaliated by largely closing off the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil and liquified natural gas flow.

Iran also attacked Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, damaging two LNG production trains that will impact about 17% of the country’s LNG exports—and repairs may take up to five years.

While most LNG from the Middle East goes to Asia, the supply shock will ripple through global markets as Asia and Europe compete for the remaining gas.

European benchmark gas futures jumped as much as 35% on Thursday to about 70 euros per megawatt hour, or more than $20 per million BTUs, double their prewar levels.

While that’s far short of the record 345 euros per megawatt hour seen in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, the latest price spike comes at a sensitive time for Europe. After heating demand drew down gas inventories during winter, countries must now restock supplies this summer.

In Asia, the situation is so dire that countries have already started looking ways to ration energy, such as implementing four-day workweeks and working from home.

A prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could send LNG spot prices in Asia above $30 per million BTUs in the summer from $26 this spring, analysts told Bloomberg. And if it remains shut in six months, the price could even top $40.

Some countries in Asia are even turning to coal to generate electricity, returning to their 2022 playbook. The Thai government, for example, has already ordered coal-fired power plants to operate at full capacity. Utilities in Bangladesh have also boosted their coal consumption.

South Korea and Taiwan, which produce much of the world’s semiconductors, have signaled they are preparing to rely more on coal.

“Asia is in full price competition, with any country that can switch from gas to coal doing so,” Henning Gloystein, a managing director for energy at Eurasia Group, told the New York Times.

Quantum computing stocks have arguably been among the most volatile in the market. Some of them, in 2022 and 2023, fell to penny stocks. But perhaps due to excitement over artificial intelligence (AI), or investors seemingly realizing that quantum technology might actually be achievable, the stocks skyrocketed in late 2024 and 2025, in some cases generating returns of 10x or more.

Lately, these stocks have been crashing, though Wall Street still sees immense potential. Here are two quantum computing stocks that have upside of as much as 167% and 199%, respectively, according to certain Wall Street analysts.

1. Rigetti Computing — 162% upside

Quantum computing is believed to be the next major iteration of computing, similar to how AI is the next major innovation in software development. While computers run on the foundation of bits, the smallest unit of digital information, quantum computers operate on qubits, which can process information simultaneously, unlike bits, which process information sequentially.

This gives quantum computers the ability to process information much faster, and researchers believe quantum computers could one day compute calculations well beyond that of even today’s most advanced supercomputers.

Rigetti Computing (RGTI 3.44%) has already designed several quantum systems and currently expects to release its 108-qubit system at the end of the first quarter. According to management, the system has achieved a two-qubit gate fidelity of 99%, a measure of accuracy. The ultimate goal of quantum computing companies is to one day commercialize these systems and make them as ubiquitous as traditional computers.

Today’s Change

(-3.44%) $-0.53

Current Price

$14.88

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$4.9B

Day’s Range

$14.38 – $15.22

52wk Range

$6.86 – $58.15

Volume

633K

Avg Vol

31M

Gross Margin

-8613.15%

Rigetti’s stock is down roughly 32% this year, but Wall Street analysts still have high hopes for the stock. Of the 10 Wall Street analysts who have issued research reports on the company in the past three months, eight have a buy rating, while two have a hold rating, according to TipRanks. The average one-year price target implies nearly 117% upside. However, the highest price target implies 162% upside.

This rating came from Mizuho Securities analyst Vijay Rakesh in early March, who lowered his price target from $50 to $43 but reiterated his buy rating. In a research note, Rakesh wrote that Rigetti missed revenue estimates in its fiscal fourth quarter but remains on track with its product roadmap. Rakesh still expects Rigetti to capture 10% of the quantum computing market and has the stock trading at 9 times his projected revenue for the company about 30 months from now.

Investors should understand that investing in Rigetti is a pure bet on quantum computers achieving their potential and commercializing. Rigetti currently generates very little revenue and hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. I would keep positions very small and speculative right now.

2. IonQ — 197% upside

IonQ (IONQ 2.10%) is another quantum computing company that set a world record for error rate last October. Using prototypes, the company achieved a two-qubit gate fidelity of over 99.99%, which is higher than the previous world record of 99.97% set by Oxford Ionics in 2024. IonQ acquired Oxford last year.

IonQ plans to use this technology as the basis for its 256-qubit system, which it hopes to demonstrate sometime this year. The stock is down about 28% this year, but Wall Street analysts are still bullish.

Of the 10 Wall Street analysts who have issued research reports on the company in the past three months, eight have a buy rating, while three have a hold rating, according to TipRanks. The average one-year price target implies roughly 91% upside. However, the highest price target implies 197% upside.

Today’s Change

(-2.10%) $-0.67

Current Price

$31.23

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$11B

Day’s Range

$30.50 – $32.24

52wk Range

$18.81 – $84.64

Volume

810K

Avg Vol

21M

Gross Margin

-2267.11%

Rosenblatt Securities analyst John McPeake maintained a buy rating and $100 price target on the stock, with his latest report coming in late February. McPeake, in his research note, cited industry leadership, a high-fidelity rate, strong revenue in 2025, and a strong cash position to continue funding the company.

It’s true that IonQ has much more revenue than Rigetti, with $130 million in 2025, which is over 200% year-over-year growth. The company is still generating significant losses but has nearly $2.4 billion of cash and short-term equivalents.

Still, trading at a market cap of over $12.3 billion, the stock is a similar bet to Rigetti, which is why I would apply the same advice I gave about Rigetti stock to IonQ.