3 Absurdly Cheap Growth Stocks to Buy Before the End of 2026

The article identifies Novo Nordisk, Intuit, and Reddit as undervalued growth opportunities, trading at forward P/E multiples of roughly 13, below 15, and about 25, respectively. Novo shares have fallen 23% over 12 months amid GLP-1 competition, while Intuit is down around 50% in 2026 on AI-disruption concerns despite FY2026 revenue growth of 14% to $21.4 billion and 9%-10% projected growth next year. Reddit has declined 30% in 2026 but reported Q2 revenue growth of 61% to $805 million, with net income equal to 31% of revenue.

Analysis

The apparent valuation opportunity is heterogeneous. NVO is a turnaround/security-of-supply debate rather than a simple GLP-1 demand trade: sustained share loss to LLY would impair both the terminal multiple and the market’s confidence in its obesity pipeline, while a credible prescription-volume inflection could drive a rapid re-rating from a depressed earnings base. The second-order beneficiary of renewed NVO execution would be European pharma exposure broadly, but the cleaner relative expression is NVO versus LLY, whose premium embeds continued category-share gains.

INTU’s risk is not that AI replaces tax filing overnight; it is that AI lowers the cost of basic bookkeeping and pushes small-business customers toward lower-priced workflow bundles. Intuit’s defensibility rests on ecosystem integration, proprietary customer data, accountant-channel retention and monetization per customer. The next 1-3 months should hinge on retention, attach rates and margin guidance rather than generic AI commentary; a deceleration in higher-value QuickBooks Online revenue would invalidate the “AI fear is excessive” view.

RDDT has the highest operating leverage but also the least proven durability of the three. AI-driven referral traffic and licensing economics can enhance monetization, yet widespread answer-engine substitution could reduce direct user sessions and weaken ad inventory over time. Consensus may be underestimating the risk that content value accrues to model platforms rather than to Reddit unless Reddit demonstrates rising logged-in engagement, pricing power in data agreements, and ad yield expansion simultaneously.

This is not a broad "cheap growth" basket: each multiple is only attractive if forward estimates survive. Near-term price action is likely headline-driven, whereas the investable 6-18 month question is whether each company can convert AI from a narrative risk into demonstrable revenue, retention or cost leverage.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Initiate a 3-6 month NVO/LLY relative-value position: long NVO, short LLY in beta-neutral sizing. Target a 15-20% narrowing of the valuation/expectations gap if NVO delivers sequential obesity-prescription stabilization; exit if NVO cuts obesity revenue guidance or if LLY maintains share gains through the next prescription-data cycle.
• Keep INTU on a catalyst watch rather than buy immediately. Enter long only after the next earnings release confirms stable small-business retention and no material deterioration in QuickBooks Online net revenue retention; use a 10-12% stop below entry, with upside dependent on multiple normalization if AI product releases support margin rather than price compression.
• Use RDDT as a tactical, not core, long: buy a defined-risk 6-month call spread only if post-earnings daily active users and ad revenue per user both accelerate. Cap premium at 1% of NAV; exit on evidence that AI referrals rise while direct logged-in engagement declines, which would undermine the monetization thesis.
• Avoid treating the quoted forward P/E figures as sufficient evidence. Before deploying capital, verify consensus EPS revisions, stock-based-compensation dilution, and segment-level growth estimates; downward estimate revisions would make the apparent discounts largely optical.