Remember when everyone was hunting for "the next big thing" after Nvidia (NVDA) turned into a market darling? Well, analysts at Mizuho Securities think they've found it, and it's in quantum computing.

The Quantum Bet

On Thursday, Mizuho initiated coverage on three quantum computing companies with Outperform ratings: IonQ (IONQ), Rigetti Computing (RGTI), and D-Wave Quantum (QBTS). The thesis is pretty straightforward. Quantum computing today looks a lot like GPUs in their early days, and the market could explode from roughly $1 billion now to $205 billion by 2035.

That's the kind of growth trajectory that makes investors salivate.

Mizuho Securities analyst Vijay Rakesh believes the industry is hitting the steepest part of its adoption curve right now. "We believe QC drives a new paradigm that offers exponential opportunities to 2035-40E as investors look for the next NVDA," the analysts wrote.

So what makes these three companies special? Each one tackles quantum computing from a different angle, which is actually pretty smart if you're trying to diversify within a nascent sector.

IonQ: The Technology Leader (Price Target $90)

IonQ uses trapped-ion technology, which delivers better error rates and coherence times than competing approaches. Translation: their quantum computers are more reliable at maintaining the delicate quantum states needed for calculations.

Mizuho sees IonQ as the frontrunner for high-performance commercial applications, especially given their ambitious roadmap to scale to two million physical qubits by 2030. That's a massive jump from where the industry sits today.

Rigetti: The Scalability Play (Price Target $50)

Rigetti is all about scale. As the closest independent competitor to tech giants like IBM and Google, Rigetti uses a unique chiplet architecture and owns the industry's first dedicated micro-fab facility.

This vertical integration means they can iterate faster and have a clear path to building systems with more than 1,000 qubits. When you control your own manufacturing, you control your destiny.

D-Wave: The Immediate Utility Bet (Price Target $46)

D-Wave takes a different approach entirely. They dominate the quantum annealing market, which is already solving real-world optimization problems in logistics and finance that traditional computers struggle with.

What makes D-Wave particularly interesting is their dual-track strategy. They're leading in annealing today while simultaneously developing a gate-model system for tomorrow. It's like placing two bets on different horses in the same race.

The Reality Check

Before you rush to dump your portfolio into quantum stocks, Mizuho acknowledges that near-term revenue will likely be "lumpy" because these companies still rely heavily on government funding. Early-stage technology is rarely a smooth ride.

But the firm believes quantum computing represents a "major transformation in high-performance compute (HPC) following in the steps of CPUs and GPUs."

For investors with strong stomachs and long time horizons, these three stocks could represent ground-floor access to the next computing revolution. Just don't expect it to happen overnight.