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

The article identifies Novo Nordisk, Intuit, and Reddit as undervalued growth opportunities, citing forward P/E multiples of 13, under 15, and about 25, respectively. Novo Nordisk has fallen 23% over 12 months amid GLP-1 competition concerns, while Intuit and Reddit are down roughly 50% and 30% in 2026 as investors price in perceived AI disruption risks. Intuit reported fiscal 2026 revenue growth of 14% to $21.4 billion and guided for 9%-10% growth, while Reddit's Q2 revenue rose 61% year over year to $805 million with net income equal to 31% of revenue.

Analysis

The common factor is not simply valuation: each name faces an AI-driven debate over whether its incumbent data, workflow integration, or regulated distribution is an asset or a liability. INTU has the clearest asymmetry if AI lowers service costs and improves attach rates for expert-assisted products rather than commoditizing filing; its recurring small-business ecosystem gives it materially greater switching friction than point-solution tax software. The critical 1-3 month catalyst is FY27 guidance credibility—particularly Online Services growth, customer retention, and operating-margin preservation—not broad AI commentary.

NVO is a turnaround/value trade rather than a clean GLP-1 growth trade. Its multiple can remain compressed if volume growth requires materially higher rebates, because the market will capitalize lower long-run gross margins even if prescriptions recover. A more attractive expression is long NVO/short LLY: NVO only needs stabilization in obesity share and manufacturing execution, while LLY must continue to exceed already elevated expectations on capacity, pricing, and pipeline differentiation. The key 6-18 month risk is that oral GLP-1 adoption expands the total market but shifts bargaining power to payors and pharmacy benefit managers, limiting profit conversion for both manufacturers.

RDDT's upside is more dependent on ad-load, performance-advertising tooling, and durable licensing economics than on the abstract value of its content to chatbots. AI answer engines can reduce direct referral traffic even while increasing the perceived value of Reddit's corpus; that is the underappreciated offset. The stock warrants a premium only if monetization per user continues converging toward larger social platforms without a corresponding deterioration in community quality, moderator economics, or content-acquisition costs. Given the low article impact and promotional framing, this is not a broad sector signal; verify estimate revisions and positioning before adding risk.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Initiate a 3-6 month long NVO / short LLY pair at equal dollar exposure; target a 10-15% NVO relative rerating on evidence of prescription-share stabilization and unchanged gross-margin framework. Exit if NVO cuts full-year profit guidance, reports sequential share loss after new-dose/oral availability, or if LLY's capacity outlook materially accelerates.
• Add INTU only after the next earnings release confirms mid-to-high-single-digit revenue growth with stable or expanding operating margin; use a 12-month cash equity position rather than pre-earnings options. Thesis fails if Online Services growth decelerates below management's range or AI-related pricing pressure reduces retention/ARPC, which would justify a lower software multiple.
• Keep RDDT on a watch list rather than chase; buy a 6-12 month position only if quarterly user growth, ad pricing, and adjusted EBITDA beat consensus simultaneously. A tactical hedge is short META or long XLC against RDDT if initiating after a sharp rally, as the principal risk is multiple compression from traffic disintermediation rather than near-term profitability.
• Monitor NVO and INTU consensus FY27 EPS revisions weekly: valuation support is not actionable if estimates are still falling. A further 5%+ downward revision cycle would outweigh the apparent forward-P/E discount and argues for waiting for estimate stabilization.