Two AI Stocks Positioned for 196% and 112% Growth: A Wall Street Deep Dive

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape investment portfolios—accounting for roughly three-quarters of S&P 500 gains since ChatGPT’s December 2022 debut—Wall Street analysts remain bullish on underrated opportunities within the AI ecosystem. JPMorgan Chase analysts point to two companies that most market participants have overlooked: The Trade Desk and Datadog. These stocks offer compelling valuations and substantial growth catalysts that could deliver returns approaching 196% and 112%, respectively, according to recent analyst price targets.

The contrast is striking: while broader AI enthusiasm has driven mega-cap tech valuations to nosebleed levels, these two specialized software platforms remain trading below their potential. Here’s what makes them worth a closer look.

The Trade Desk: Adtech’s Quiet Winner With 100% Upside Potential

The Trade Desk operates at the intersection of artificial intelligence and digital media spending, providing the infrastructure that powers modern advertising campaigns. The company’s software helps media buyers plan, execute, measure, and refine digital ad placements across the open internet—that decentralized network of websites, apps, and streaming services beyond the walled gardens of Google and Amazon.

What gives The Trade Desk a durable competitive edge? Its AI-powered algorithms evaluate ad impressions in real time, automatically adjusting bid prices and targeting parameters based on performance data. Critically, the company remains technology-agnostic. Unlike Alphabet (Google) or Amazon, which benefit from steering ad budgets toward their own inventory like YouTube or Prime Video, The Trade Desk has no incentive to bias recommendations. This neutrality makes it a trusted partner for publishers, who freely share data that sharpens targeting accuracy across connected TV (one of the fastest-growing ad channels) and the broader open internet.

The stock has experienced significant headwinds—down 80% from peak valuations—as investors worried that generative AI tools like ChatGPT would cannibalize digital ad spending. That fear appears overblown. Wall Street expects The Trade Desk to grow adjusted earnings at a 13% annual clip through 2026, which implies the current 15x earnings valuation offers attractive entry pricing. Stifel analyst Mark Kelley recently issued a $74 target price, pointing to 196% potential upside from current levels around $25 per share. While that aggressive projection may prove optimistic, the median analyst price target of $50—representing 100% upside—suggests the market hasn’t properly valued the company’s competitive advantages.

Datadog: AI-Powered Observability on an Accelerated Growth Path

Datadog tackles a different but equally essential problem: helping enterprises see, understand, and fix what’s breaking inside their sprawling technology environments. The platform aggregates signals from infrastructure, applications, and services on a unified dashboard, then deploys Watchdog, an AI engine, to detect anomalies, trigger alerts, and pinpoint root causes of problems.

This observability and security software has attracted consistent praise from independent research firms. Gartner identifies Datadog as a leader in digital experience monitoring, a market expected to expand 16% annually through 2030. Forrester Research rates the company among top performers in AI for IT operations, a segment projected to grow 15% per year. Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss notes that Datadog has captured more market share than rivals in its core observability segment by building platforms that consolidate diverse monitoring tools, simplifying complexity for IT teams.

The company has moved aggressively into monitoring AI applications themselves and is rolling out autonomous agents that streamline incident response and threat remediation. Recent financial results showed 20% adjusted earnings growth, yet the 60x earnings valuation reflects investor caution about sustainability. However, heavy research and development spending telegraphs management’s confidence in future acceleration. Monness analyst Brian White recently set a $255 price target on Datadog, implying 112% upside from the $120 current price. The Street’s median estimate of $180 per share suggests 50% more conservative but still meaningful gains ahead.

The Investment Case: Why These 196% and 112% Targets Matter

What ties these opportunities together? Both companies operate in secular growth markets fueled by digital transformation and AI adoption. Both have achieved clear market-leader positions. And both trade at valuations that discount their growth trajectories—at least according to the analysts who follow them closely.

The Trade Desk faces justified skepticism about open internet economics, yet its 13% earnings growth, independent model, and connected TV momentum create a compelling risk-reward profile. Datadog commands a premium valuation but funds that premium through R&D that should unlock faster earnings expansion. Most analysts covering both names expect annual returns to fall short of triple digits, but the overwhelming consensus is that both remain undervalued relative to their competitive positioning and growth runways.

For investors seeking exposure to AI’s structural tailwinds while avoiding the valuation extremes of mega-cap names, these two 196% and 112% targets—from Stifel and Monness, respectively—highlight where Wall Street still sees meaningful opportunity hiding in plain sight.