← Datadog, Inc.

DDOG · Forward model · Bull case

The Bull case, 20 quarters out

Model as of

Each segment is projected from its own operating driver, rolled up into consolidated cash flow, and discounted back to a fair value per share. The assumptions below are editable — change them and every number on this page moves with them.

Datadog reports one operating and reportable segment, so this model uses the only revenue disaggregation it discloses: North America and International, which foot to reported revenue to the dollar in all six directly filed quarters and to within $4 thousand in the two fourth quarters that are derived as the fiscal year less the nine months. Nothing is split by product, because no product-line revenue is disclosed; nothing is built off total ARR, because Datadog never publishes one. Both verticals carry the consolidated cost structure - the chief operating decision maker reviews consolidated net income and no geographic profitability exists - and this is stated openly rather than dressed as a geographic insight. The projected margin is calibrated to cash rather than to GAAP: the basis-quarter inputs reproduce the house free-cash-flow margin of 27.3% ($306.0 million on $1,121.5 million, operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment), which is $27.3 million above Datadog's own free-cash-flow definition because the company also deducts capitalised software. Corporate overhead is the disclosed general and administrative line at 7.7% of revenue; capex intensity is management's guided 4-5% of revenue for capex and capitalised software together, taken at the 4.5% midpoint; the tax rate is Datadog's stated 21% long-term projected rate. The one-off step in the North America driver is this model's calibration of a disclosed but unsized event - the largest customer's usage reduction, in a company that reports no customer at or above 10% of revenue - and the choice to put it in North America rather than International is inference from the growth-rate fingerprint, not disclosure. The exit multiple is the largest single lever and is an assumption: no peer multiple was independently verified.

DDOG forward model
Horizon
Fair value per share $301.17 +41% against $212.93
Terminal-year revenue $12.00B last four projected quarters
Enterprise value $104.16B $10.59B explicit + $93.57B terminal

The forward book is growing faster than revenue, which is the one thing a usage-metered business cannot fake. Remaining performance obligations reached $3,471.4 million, up 43.1% year over year against revenue growth of 35.6%, and management put billings at $1.18 billion, up 38%. Net retention moved up to the low-120%'s from about 120%. The AI franchise is broad rather than single-name - over 750 AI customers, 31 above $1 million and 8 above $10 million a year. If the largest customer is the only account optimising, the contracted book says growth reaccelerates once it laps, and the multiple holds at 12x.

DDOG REVENUE MODEL

Latest: $3.27B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q3 $690M
2024Q4 $738M
2025Q1 $762M
2025Q2 $827M
2025Q3 $886M
2025Q4 $953M
2026Q1 $1.01B
2026Q2 $1.12B
2026Q3E $1.15B
2026Q4E $1.22B
2027Q1E $1.26B
2027Q2E $1.37B
2027Q3E $1.44B
2027Q4E $1.53B
2028Q1E $1.57B
2028Q2E $1.71B
2028Q3E $1.80B
2028Q4E $1.90B
2029Q1E $1.96B
2029Q2E $2.12B
2029Q3E $2.23B
2029Q4E $2.36B
2030Q1E $2.43B
2030Q2E $2.64B
2030Q3E $2.77B
2030Q4E $2.93B
2031Q1E $3.02B
2031Q2E $3.27B
Scenarios

Where each case comes from

Bear case — primary sources

The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Bear column is what happens if they are taken at face value.

Bull case — primary sources

The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Bull column is what happens if they are taken at face value.

Pomel case — primary sources

The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Pomel column is what happens if they are taken at face value.

Valuation

From cash flow to fair value

Present value of free cash flow, 20 quarters$10.59B
Terminal-year revenue$12.00B
Terminal-year EBITDA$5.83B
Exit multiple, on revenue12.0x
Terminal value$143.97B
Discounted at 9.0% a year, terminal value becomes$93.57B
Share of enterprise value from the terminal90%
Enterprise value$104.16B
Net cash$3.99B
Equity value$108.14B
Shares0.36B
Fair value per share$301.17
Against the deployed price of $212.93, as of +41%

10% on a profitable software business with $4.0 billion of net cash, no financing need and $1.0 billion of zero-coupon converts due 2029. 8x exit revenue is a mature-SaaS multiple for a line fading toward mid-teens growth by 2031; the shares trade at 17.4x FY2026 guided revenue today, and that multiple cannot survive the fade. No peer multiple was independently verified in the research pass, so the exit multiple is anchored on Datadog's own compression rather than on an asserted comp set - it is the single largest lever in this model.

Read the other way round: at $212.93 the market is paying 7.9x terminal-year revenue, holding every other assumption on this page fixed. That is the number to argue about.

Quarter by quarter

The projected path

Quarter North AmericaInternational Revenue YoY EBITDA Capex FCF R40 PV of FCF
2026 Q3E $839M$315M $1.15B +30% $503M $52M $356M +61 $349M
2026 Q4E $879M$344M $1.22B +28% $539M $55M $383M +60 $366M
2027 Q1E $906M$356M $1.26B +25% $562M $57M $399M +57 $374M
2027 Q2E $994M$376M $1.37B +22% $617M $62M $438M +54 $402M
2027 Q3E $1.05B$398M $1.44B +25% $655M $65M $466M +57 $419M
2027 Q4E $1.09B$433M $1.53B +25% $699M $69M $498M +58 $438M
2028 Q1E $1.13B$446M $1.57B +25% $726M $71M $518M +58 $445M
2028 Q2E $1.24B$471M $1.71B +25% $793M $77M $566M +58 $476M
2028 Q3E $1.30B$497M $1.80B +25% $840M $81M $600M +58 $494M
2028 Q4E $1.36B$539M $1.90B +25% $894M $86M $639M +58 $515M
2029 Q1E $1.40B$555M $1.96B +24% $926M $88M $662M +58 $522M
2029 Q2E $1.54B$585M $2.12B +24% $1.01B $96M $721M +58 $557M
2029 Q3E $1.62B$616M $2.23B +24% $1.07B $101M $763M +58 $576M
2029 Q4E $1.70B$668M $2.36B +24% $1.13B $106M $810M +59 $599M
2030 Q1E $1.75B$686M $2.43B +24% $1.17B $109M $837M +59 $606M
2030 Q2E $1.92B$722M $2.64B +24% $1.27B $119M $911M +59 $646M
2030 Q3E $2.01B$760M $2.77B +24% $1.34B $125M $962M +59 $667M
2030 Q4E $2.11B$823M $2.93B +24% $1.42B $132M $1.02B +59 $692M
2031 Q1E $2.17B$845M $3.02B +24% $1.47B $136M $1.05B +59 $699M
2031 Q2E $2.38B$889M $3.27B +24% $1.60B $147M $1.14B +59 $744M

Every row is projected. A year-over-year change is shown only where the quarter it compares against exists — an em dash means there is no comparable quarter, not a flat year.

Track record

Model revisions

Assumptions are marked to reality as each quarter prints. Every change is appended here, with the fair value the model produced at the time, so the model's own history stays visible.

DateFair value thenNote
2026-08-27 $155.50 First publication, off the Q2 2026 print of 6 August 2026. Two verticals - the only disclosed revenue split - with the largest customer's usage reduction carried as a one-off step to the North America run rate so the guided Q3 and FY2026 revenue both reconcile.