Is Datadog still a buy?

Cloud analytics company Datadog (Datadog Stock Quote, Chart, News NASDAQ:DDOG) has come a long way since its trading debut a year ago —perhaps too far, says Kim Bolton of Black Swan Dexteritas, who thinks investors should wait until the stock cools off a bit.

Cloud software business Datadog has been firing on all cylinders since going public last September.

Launching at $27 per share, the stock climbed to $40 on its first day of trading and has increased by leaps and bounds before topping out at a little under $100 by early July. (All figures in US dollars.)

Bolton says a sizable pullback should make this an attractive buy.

“Datadog is one of our favourite IPOs and it recently had a decent pullback only because it's had a tremendous run,” said Bolton, speaking on BNN Bloomberg on Wednesday.

“We actually sold it up in the just around $90 and but we will buy it down in the $70s.” “What Datadog does is they’ve developed monitoring and analytical solutions for DevOps and businesses and through its software-as-a-service platform it allows for automated infrastructure monitoring across the entire technology spectrum,” Bolton said.

Datadog has experienced strong growth along with a knack for profitability, both of which were on display earlier this month in the company’s second quarter financial results. Q2 revenue saw a 68 per cent year-over-year rise to $140.0 million, while non-GAAP adjusted EPS came in at $0.05 per share compared to a loss of $0.07 per share a year earlier. Analysts had been calling for revenue of $135.4 million and earnings of $0.01 per share.

Management guidance for the upcoming third quarter was also positive, calling for revenue between $143 and $145 million and for full 2020 revenue of between $566 million and $572 million.

CEO and co-founder Olivier Pomel said the company’s strong performance shows the solidity of its business even during the currently challenging economic environment.

“COVID-19 has illuminated the need to be digital-first and agile, as well as the cloud as the IT architecture of choice to achieve these outcomes,” Pomel said in an August 6 press release.

“While the current macro environment has caused business pressures for our customers, we expect it to accelerate digital transformation and cloud migration over the long-term. Datadog is very well positioned to be a primary beneficiary of these trends. We continue to execute on our strategic priorities to position for the long-term, including rapid product innovation and expansion of our go-to-market,” Pomel added.

Even with the quarterly beat DDOG fell hard earlier this month, dropping 17 per cent on the Q2 release, but the stock has been battling back since. Bolton said investors should keep an eye on this one.

“Datadog has had phenomenal growth. It's even beating some of the darlings out there like Alteryx, another perennial investor favourite,” Bolton said.

“Data dog is actually cash flow positive and it's growing its operating margins consistently, but it does have some volatility in it and I think if you can pick it up here in in the $70s, you'll be well rewarded,” he said.