Wedbush upgrades Datadog's (DDOG) price target to $170 following S&P 500 inclusion

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives raised his price target on Datadog (DDOG) to $170 from $140 following news that the company will be added to the S&P 500 index. The upgrade came with an “Outperform” rating and was driven by “incremental confidence” in Datadog’s long-term ability to scale its observability initiatives.

The stock jumped nearly 15% to $155.15 on July 3 after S&P Global announced Datadog will replace Juniper Networks (JNPR) in the S&P 500, effective before the market opens on July 9. Juniper was recently acquired by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE).

Datadog had been underperforming the broader tech sector, down 5.5% year-to-date through July 2, compared to the Nasdaq’s 5.6% gain. The upgrade signals renewed optimism in the company’s growth outlook following the index addition.