Value investing is one of the two primary investing philosophies that dominate the market. Essentially, it involves buying a stock that you believe is trading under its intrinsic value. Once the market sends the stock back to the level that you believe it should trade at, you exit the position.

One stock that I think is in deep value territory is The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD). I think it is trading way below where it should be and might even have the potential to double before the end of the year. If it can do that, it's a no-brainer buy because finding stocks with the potential to double in a short time frame doesn't happen every day.

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The Trade Desk used to be a growth stock darling. It consistently grew revenue at a 20% or greater pace quarter after quarter and had a premium valuation. However, its growth has slowed, and that has caused growth investors to exit the stock, while value investors haven't scooped it up yet. As a result, The Trade Desk is a fairly unloved stock right now.

Still, the reasons for its growth slowdown are of its own making. The Trade Desk operates a buy-side ad platform. Companies with products or services to sell utilize The Trade Desk's platform to place ads in the most optimal location on the internet, rather than just broadcasting their advertisement to an untargeted audience. The Trade Desk rolled out its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform not too long ago, and since then, growth has crashed. The issue is not the capability but the complexity of the platform.

As another issue, Publicis, an advertising and public relations company, no longer recommends The Trade Desk as an advertising partner due to a failed internal audit. This is a big deal because Publicis is one of the largest advertising agencies in the world.

In the fourth quarter of 2025 (Q4), The Trade Desk's revenue grew 14% year over year. Next quarter, it's expected to post 10% growth. That's a long way away from where it used to be, and this is concerning for investors. There's also an unknown future effect on what Publicis dropping The Trade Desk could do.

TTD Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts.

So how will the stock double by the end of 2026? It won't be easy.

Even with a double-digit growth rate, you'd expect the stock to trade for about the same price tag as the S&P 500, but that's not the case. The Trade Desk trades for a mere 10.8 times forward earnings versus the S&P 500's 20.6.

Because The Trade Desk is growing at about a market-average pace, I'd argue that its stock should trade for about the same price tag, although it must sort out the Publicis allegations first. If The Trade Desk's stock could instantly trade up to 20.6 times forward earnings, that would help the stock to nearly double but not quite get there.

For The Trade Desk to double, its revenue growth needs to reaccelerate, which is entirely possible thanks to the quality of its product (even though it's complex) and its market positioning. There have also been reports that The Trade Desk is working with OpenAI to place ads within generative AI prompts on ChatGPT. If the Trade Desk can reaccelerate to mid-teens growth, I have no doubt that the stock could double by the end of the year, along with its valuation increasing. It also needs to fix its relationship with its customers. The Publicis allegations need to be investigated and responded to, and fixed, if necessary.

The Trade Desk has a lot of work to do before returning to where it should be trading, but if its growth can reaccelerate and repair its relationship with customers, I think the ad-tech stock could double, although it won't be easy.

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Keithen Drury has positions in The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

1 Ultracheap Stock That Could Double by the End of 2026 was originally published by The Motley Fool