New York, Jan 22, 2026, 20:20 (EST) — Market closed.
- Datadog shares surged 6.3% Thursday following Stifel’s upgrade to a “buy” rating.
- Datadog is scheduled to report earnings on Feb. 10 and hold an investor day two days later, on Feb. 12.
- Traders will be watching to see if the move sticks into Friday’s session, as software earnings season gathers momentum.
Datadog shares jumped $7.79, or 6.3%, to close at $131.25 on Thursday. In after-hours trading, the stock edged up another 0.4% to $131.82.
This move is significant as the cloud monitoring company gears up for a crucial two-day stretch next month packed with catalysts that might shift expectations. Datadog announced it will hold an Investor Day in New York City on Feb. 12, kicking off at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Investors, already jittery over growth in pricey software stocks, got another reason to watch closely. Datadog is set to release its fourth-quarter and full-year results before U.S. markets open on Feb. 10, with a conference call scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET.
Stifel’s Brad Reback bumped Datadog from Hold to Buy but lowered his price target to $160 from $205, according to a note picked up by TheFly. He cited recent channel checks indicating yet “another larger than typical” Q4 beat. TipRanks
Stifel, in another note, forecasted 2026 revenue around $4.1 billion and highlighted an “OpenAI integration” run-rate near $90 million per quarter. (Run-rate here means an annualized figure derived from recent data.) Investing.com
On Wednesday, TD Cowen cut its price target to $200 from $235 but maintained a Buy rating. The firm anticipates Datadog will outperform its guidance of 24% growth and projects 2026 revenue growth between 19% and 20%.
Not everyone agrees on the outlook. Mizuho trimmed its price target to $170 from $200 but stuck with an Outperform rating. The firm cited “multiple compression” hitting large-cap software stocks, despite noting that public-cloud checks were “generally good.” TipRanks
Datadog swung from $126.91 up to $133.48 in regular trading, with roughly 9.6 million shares changing hands.
The stock outpaced the broader market. The Invesco QQQ Trust climbed around 0.7%, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF added about 0.5% for the day.
Datadog offers “observability” tools—software designed to help companies keep tabs on cloud apps and infrastructure, enabling teams to detect outages, performance hiccups, and security threats more quickly. Its rivals in this space include Dynatrace and Elastic.
The next move hinges on guidance, not upgrades. If Datadog’s Feb. 10 outlook remains cautious—or if clients continue tightening cloud spending—Thursday’s rally could reverse fast, given the ongoing pressure on software valuations.
Traders will keep an eye on Friday’s session for any momentum following the Stifel call. The real challenge hits on Feb. 10, when the company reports results and updates guidance, then again on Feb. 12, during the Investor Day presentation where management will detail its strategy.
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