After Datadog Inclusion, These Firms Could Be Next Up To Join the S&P 500

The S&P 500 might be the world’s most-tracked index, with inclusion considered one of the highest honors in capital markets. Only, with just 500 spots, investors engage in guesswork to predict which eligible US-listed firms enter its exclusive ranks. Nonetheless, there are forerunners making the rounds; their stocks bustling with anticipation.

• Last quarter, analysts were pounding the table for RobinhoodHOOD
  , ApplovinAPP
  , and Interactive BrokersIBKR
  to join the index — none of them did.
• They face even greater competition from BlockSQ
  , RobloxRBLX
  , and Brookfield Asset ManagementBAM
  — plus new IPOs such as CoreWeaveCRWV
  and CircleCRCL
  .

Surprise, surprise: Investors have been caught off guard by the S&P 500 selection committee — not once, but twice — in recent months. First, when it declined to make changes to the index in its May quarterly rebalance; then, when it replaced recently acquired Juniper Networks with DatadogDDOG

. To that end, the committee is tasked with the near-impossible task of selecting heavyweights among already strong contenders.