SpaceX Has Officially Joined the Nasdaq-100. Here Are 3 Better Nasdaq-100 Stocks to Buy in July.

Keurig Dr Pepper closed an ~$18B acquisition of JDE Peet's and plans to split into two separately traded businesses by end-2026 (global coffee vs. North American refreshment beverages), which could unlock value but increases leverage risk. O’Reilly Automotive continues steady expansion (120+ Mexico stores) and executed a 15-for-1 stock split in 2025, while DoorDash is pushing beyond food into grocery/retail, ads, and autonomous delivery after its late-2025 Deliveroo deal—though heavy 2026 tech consolidation and spending is likely to weigh near-term profits. Overall, the article frames these as long-term, fundamentally driven opportunities rather than chase the newly Nasdaq-100-added SpaceX.

Analysis

Name-brand flow alone is not an edge here. The new public index entrant is a technical event, not an underwriting event: passive demand can support the tape for days to weeks, but once that inventory is distributed, the stock trades on disclosure quality and monetization cadence. Until there are several quarters of operating proof, the setup is a fade candidate, especially if borrow is available and volume decays.

The more interesting setup is the split/balance-sheet tradeoff at KDP. Breakups can lift multiples, but leverage from the acquisition makes the equity more rate-sensitive and less forgiving to any slowdown in coffee pricing or refreshment volume; if credit spreads widen, the rerating can stall before the separation date. On the other side, a more focused coffee asset could become a sharper competitor, but the first-order beneficiary is really the creditor base unless management de-levers faster than expected.

ORLY is the cleanest compounding thesis: an aging fleet turns inflation into ticket growth, and the Mexico rollout adds a second engine without needing a macro reacceleration. DASH has the most upside optionality, but the market is likely underestimating how much of the future value sits in ads and non-restaurant logistics, not core delivery—good for 12-18 months, expensive for the next quarter. The contrarian point: the most obvious story stock is probably the least attractive entry, while the dullest name is the one with the best downside protection.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Avoid chasing SPCX into the index-flow window; if borrow is available, use a small tactical short or put spread after 1-2 weeks of passive buying subsides. Falsifier: sustained high volume and an upward revision in the first two earnings cycles.
• Buy ORLY on pullbacks over the next 3-6 months as the highest-quality defensive compounder in the group. Risk/reward is better than it looks: lower upside than DASH, but much cleaner downside protection if the consumer slows.
• Long DASH for a 6-12 month horizon if you can tolerate near-term margin pressure; the trade is that ads + grocery/retail mix can expand EBIT faster than the market expects. Falsifier: take rate stalls or incremental spend outpaces revenue mix improvement.
• Keep KDP on watch rather than sizing aggressively today; wait for evidence that leverage is moving down before paying for the breakup. If net debt/EBITDA and credit spreads improve over the next 1-2 quarters, the sum-of-parts rerating becomes actionable.