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WHO LET THE DDOG IN?

Datadog is now in the S&P 500. These big stocks still aren’t.

How do you get into the S&P 500 anyway? A weighty market value helps, but it’s not the only factor that matters.

Hyunsoo Rim

Cloud-monitoring software provider Datadog surged 15% on Thursday, following the news that it will be added to the S&P 500 Index on July 9, replacing Juniper Networks.

Datadogs addition marks another win for the tech sector, which has steadily expanded its footprint in America’s flagship index, with companies like DoorDash, Workday, Palantir, Dell, and Super Micro Computer added in recent reshuffles.

Let me in!

With trillions of dollars invested in ETFs that track the index, getting your company into the S&P 500 is a big deal.

So, how do you join the club?

One common misconception is that it’s simply the 500 largest stocks — but the criteria that Standard and Poors evaluates are a little more complex. To qualify, companies must meet eligibility factors including a market cap of at least $22.7 billion, a minimum of 12 months trading on a US exchange, and specific structural, profitability, and liquidity requirements. DDOG checks all the boxes, now with a $53.6 billion market cap (after yesterday’s rise). But what are the biggest names that so far haven’t been called up?

Topping the list is AppLovin, the ad tech company that became one of Wall Street’s darlings last year, followed by bitcoin-hoarding machine MicroStrategy.

A little further down the list is Robinhood, AI play CoreWeave, Snowflake, and Roblox.

Despite trailing the broader tech sector this year, Wall Street remains bullish on Datadog’s long-term growth, particularly in the AI space. In June, Bank of America analysts named it their top software pick for the second half of 2025, citing its ability to sustain over 20% revenue growth in the years ahead.

(Disclosure: Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company. I own Robinhood stock as part of my compensation.)

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Luke Kawa

Opendoor surges on bullish options bets as traders look to potential real estate tokenization

Opendoor Technologies is surging on Friday amid bullish options bets and social media posts referencing unconfirmed rumors about the company.

The stock moved higher in the premarket session after the soft inflation report boosted stocks and briefly pushed long-term bond yields lower (positive for a real estate company). But the real gains came after the opening bell rang and options demand picked up.

As of 12:11 p.m. ET, roughly 664,000 call options have changed hands versus a 10-day average of about 364,000 for a full session.

What seems to be galvanizing members of the “$OPEN Army” is the potential for the company to pursue the tokenization of real-world assets, with Robinhood often bandied about as a potential partner in this endeavor.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

Opendoor bulls have often pointed to signs that Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev appears to be fond of the company, from what appeared on-screen during a demo of a social trading feature at HOOD’s conference in Las Vegas in September to offering support to Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian in setting up an opportunity for retail shareholders to ask questions during the online real estate company’s next earnings call.

Opendoor is currently in a quiet period ahead of earnings, which restricts what type of announcements a company can make.

The call options seeing the most demand expire this Friday with strike prices of $8, $8.50, and $9.

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Beyond Meat gains amid slightly better-than-expected Q3 sales, positive commentary on legal issues

Shares of Beyond Meat built on their premarket gains after the plant-based meat seller reported preliminary Q3 sales a bit ahead of Wall Street’s expectations, before paring this advance after the market opened.

For the three months ended September 27, management said net revenue would be approximately $70 million. That’s in line with their guidance range of $68 million to $73 million, but Wall Street was expecting sales to skew toward the lower end of that range, at $68.7 million.

However, its anticipated gross margin of 10% to 11% is lower than analysts had been expecting (13.8%). That’s still the case even adjusting for expenses related to its downsizing of operations in China, which would have left margins around 12% to 13%, per Beyond.

Perhaps more importantly, the company provided positive commentary regarding arbitration discussions with a former co-manufacturer that appear to bring it closer to a resolution while limiting potential damages:

“As previously disclosed, in March 2024, a former co-manufacturer brought an action against the Company in a confidential arbitration proceeding claiming that the Company inappropriately terminated its agreement with the co-manufacturer and claimed damages of at least $73.0 million. On September 15, 2025, the arbitrator issued an interim award (the ‘Interim Award’) and found that the Company had a valid basis to terminate the agreement with the Manufacturer. The details of the Interim Award are confidential, and a final arbitration award has not been issued. Additional proceedings will be held to determine the award of attorneys’ fees, prejudgment interest and costs, if any, before a final arbitration award will be issued. On September 25, 2025, the Manufacturer filed a request with the arbitrator to re-open the arbitration hearing. On September 29, 2025, the Company opposed this request. On October 20, 2025, the arbitrator denied the Manufacturer’s request.”

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