One of the questions I get asked most often from investors is simple:
“Why do you recommend baskets of stocks instead of just giving us your single favorite idea?”
The answer is exactly what we’re seeing play out right now in our Quantum Portfolio.
On June 4, we launched a portfolio of seven stocks positioned to benefit from what I believe could become one of the biggest technological revolutions of the next decade: quantum computing.
Since then, the group has been volatile.
In fact, if you looked only at the individual positions, you might be surprised to learn that just two of the seven stocks are currently showing gains.
Yet despite that, the overall portfolio is up more than 22% in less than three weeks.
Over the same period, the S&P 500 is actually down about 2%.
How is that possible?
Because successful investing in emerging megatrends isn’t about finding seven winners out of seven.
It’s about finding one or two exceptional winners that more than make up for the inevitable losers.
And that’s exactly what happened last week.
One Winner Can Carry the Basket
One of our holdings, Horizon Quantum (HQ), surged from our entry price of $12.59 to as high as $45.
We decided to sell half at $35.50 – locking in a gain of roughly 182% in just 18 days.
As a result, locked in a huge gain while continuing to hold the remaining shares.
Many investors spend their entire careers looking for a stock that can double.
This one nearly tripled in less than three weeks.
Of course, not every stock in the portfolio has performed that way.
And that’s the point.
When you’re investing in an emerging industry, there is tremendous uncertainty.
Some companies will become industry leaders. Some will get acquired. Some will fail.
And some may never live up to the hype.
The challenge is that nobody knows exactly which companies will dominate five or ten years from now.
That is why I prefer building a basket of companies rather than making an all-or-nothing bet on a single stock.
A Lesson From Every Major Tech Shift
Think back to the early days of the internet.
Everyone knew the internet would change the world.
Very few people knew which companies would ultimately become the biggest winners.
The same thing happened with smartphones, cloud computing, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, and countless other disruptive technologies.
The investors who captured the biggest gains weren’t necessarily the ones who picked every winner.
They were the ones who had exposure to the trend itself.
Quantum computing feels remarkably similar today and the technology is still in its infancy.
Commercial adoption remains limited, revenue across much of the industry is still relatively small.
Yet governments, universities, venture capital firms, and some of the world’s largest technology companies are pouring billions of dollars into advancing the technology.
The reason is simple: The potential payoff is enormous.
Washington Is Now Paying Attention
We’re starting to see governments move from simply funding quantum research to actively preparing for a quantum future.
Earlier today, President Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at accelerating quantum adoption across the federal government while strengthening America’s cyber defenses against future quantum threats.
The orders focus on speeding up the transition to quantum-resistant cybersecurity systems, expanding the use of quantum technologies throughout government agencies, and helping ensure the United States remains competitive in what is quickly becoming a global technology race.
This is an important development because it signals that quantum computing is no longer viewed as a distant science project.
Policymakers are beginning to treat it as a strategic technology with national security implications.
We've Seen This Movie Before
Artificial intelligence, semiconductors, electric vehicles, and space technology all reached a point where government support helped accelerate investment, commercialization, and adoption. Quantum computing appears to be moving into that phase now.
For investors, that doesn’t guarantee immediate success for every quantum company. But it does reinforce my belief that the technology is moving closer to the mainstream and that the long-term opportunity remains very much intact.
Quantum computers could eventually solve problems that would take today’s most powerful supercomputers years, decades, or even centuries to complete.
That has implications for everything from drug discovery and materials science to cybersecurity, logistics, energy systems, and artificial intelligence.
Will every quantum stock become a winner?
Absolutely not.
In fact, most probably won’t.
But if quantum computing develops the way many experts believe it will, a handful of companies could produce extraordinary returns over the next decade.
The Goal Isn't Perfection — It's Positioning
That’s the opportunity we’re trying to capture.
Not by predicting every winner with perfect accuracy.
But by building a portfolio designed to participate in what could become one of the most important technological shifts of our lifetime.
The early results have been encouraging.
A portfolio gain of more than 22% in less than three weeks is certainly a strong start.
But the bigger takeaway isn’t the performance.
It’s the reminder that investing success often comes from a few exceptional winners.
The goal isn’t perfection.
The goal is positioning yourself early enough so that when those winners emerge, you’re already on board.
And right now, I believe quantum computing remains one of the most exciting opportunities for patient, long-term investors willing to look beyond the next quarter and focus on the next decade.
To your future success,
Matt McCall
Founder, NXT Wave Research
