S&P 500 Subverts Expectations Again with Addition of Programmatic Ad Giant The Trade Desk To Index

The S&P 500 has notched all sorts of records to start Q3: all-time highs, record concentrations in tech stocks, and the sheer number of ‘gotchas’ made out to Wall Street analysts trying to augur the next member in its esteemed order. On Monday, announcing a replacement for an outgoing member, they did it again.

• On Friday, adtech firm The Trade DeskTTD
  will join the S&P 500, replacing chip design software firm Ansys (which was acquired by Synopsys for $35B).
• We’ve chronicled the rise of this one-time underdog, first in Dec. 2020 and most recently in Nov. 2024 after stellar earnings; however, the firm is up just 1% since our first feature.

WhyTTD

? In recent weeks, S&P Global has pulled out the stops to keep investors guessing, first declining to make new additions to the index during its quarterly rebalancing, then by adding DatadogDDOG

— replacing an outgoing Juniper Networks. WithTTD

, the index’s new adds continue to subvert expectations. That is, there are arguably faster-growing and larger firms on analysts’ short lists. And with some current members languishing in the face of the market rally, questions continue to mount as to what the forthcoming rebalance might hold.