Even a relatively small amount of money can grow a lot if it's invested in the right stocks. Some stocks could require significantly less time for that growth than others.

I think a few alternatives especially stand out right now. If you have $1,000, here are three growth stocks to buy that could double your money.

1. Alibaba Group

All of the hype about artificial intelligence has caused the valuations of some AI stocks to become quite frothy. That isn't the case for Alibaba Group Holding (BABA 0.59%), though. Its shares currently trade at only 10 times forward earnings. 

Alibaba is a legitimate contender in AI, too. The company's cloud platform already offers significant capabilities. It also recently launched its generative AI system that's similar in some ways to OpenAI's ChatGPT.  

Wall Street thinks that the stock could go a long way toward doubling in just the next 12 months. The consensus price target reflects an upside potential of more than 50%.

There's also a key catalyst on the way. Alibaba plans to split its technology empire into six separate businesses, including spinning off its cloud unit.

2. Intellia Therapeutics

Gene-editing stocks are hot once again. Shares of Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA 3.70%) have jumped nearly 30% year to date. They should have a lot more room to run.

Indeed, analysts think Intellia could nearly double over the next 12 months. The average price target is 95% above the current share price.

Why such bullishness about this stock? There's a lot of excitement about Intellia's CRISPR gene-editing candidate, NTLA-2002. The company is evaluating the therapy in a phase 2 clinical study as a treatment for hereditary angioedema. 

Intellia also has great expectations for NTLA-2001. It hopes to file for U.S. regulatory approval to advance the experimental therapy into a pivotal trial targeting transthyretin amyloidosis by the end of 2023. 

3. Viking Therapeutics

Shares of Viking Therapeutics (VKTX 7.92%) have already more than doubled so far this year. Can the biotech stock do it again? Don't be surprised if it does over the next few years, anyway.

Every analyst surveyed by Refinitiv rates Viking as either a buy or a strong buy. The consensus 12-month price target for the stock is 60% above the current share price.

Viking's pipeline features two especially promising programs. The company reported positive results in March 2023 from a phase 1 study of VK2735 in weight loss. In May, Viking announced encouraging results from a phase 2b study of VK2809 in treating non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Both weight loss and NASH represent huge potential markets for Viking. The company still has more hurdles to jump before it will be in a position to launch a product. But with a market cap of only around $2 billion, Viking could easily double or more with some more good news from its pipeline candidates.

Double trouble?

Investors should be aware there's no guarantee that any of these stocks will actually deliver 100% returns or more over the next few years. All three face some key risks.

Alibaba is based in China. There's a continual threat that the Chinese government could interfere with the company's business. Intellia and Viking could experience clinical setbacks or fail to win regulatory approvals in the future.

Despite these real risks, though, aggressive investors could want to give each of these stocks a hard look. Alibaba, Intellia, and Viking appear to be in a better position than most other stocks to double your money over a relatively short period.