Cathie Wood buys $27 million of battered tech stock

Cathie Wood, caput of Ark Investment Management, likes to marque bold bets, adjacent erstwhile the stocks she picks are down for a while.

That’s what she conscionable did, buying a banal that’s down much than 30% twelvemonth to date.

Wood often views crisp pullbacks arsenic buying opportunities. Sometimes she’s right. Last year, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF gained 35.49%, acold outpacing the S&P 500’s instrumentality of 17.88% successful the aforesaid period.

Wood gained a estimation aft the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a 153% instrumentality successful 2020. But her benignant besides brings achy losses successful bearish markets, arsenic seen successful 2022, erstwhile the Ark Innovation ETF tumbled much than 60%.

As of March 7, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) was down astir 7% twelvemonth to date, portion the S&P 500 dropped 1.5%, arsenic unit mounted connected growth-focused tech stocks.

Those swings person weighed connected Wood’s semipermanent gains. As of March 7, the Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized instrumentality of -9%, portion the S&P 500 has an annualized instrumentality of 13.54% implicit the aforesaid period, according to information from Morningstar.

Wood focuses connected high-tech companies crossed artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics. She thinks these businesses person large maturation potential, though their volatility often brings fluctuations to the Ark’s funds.

From 2014 to 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped retired $7 cardinal successful capitalist wealth, according to an investigation by Morningstar’s expert Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealthiness destroyer among communal funds and ETFs successful Arnott’s ranking. The expert hasn’t updated the 2025 ranking.

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In a missive published successful January, Wood says the U.S. system is storing up vigor for a crisp rebound successful 2026.

"Despite sustained existent gross home merchandise maturation during the past 3 years, the underlying U.S. system has suffered a rolling recession and has evolved into a coiled outpouring that could bounce backmost powerfully during the adjacent fewer years," Wood wrote.

Wood besides rejects the “AI bubble” speech again, saying it "is years away" and "the astir almighty superior spending rhythm successful history" is coming.

"What erstwhile was the headdress successful spending seems to person go a level present that the AI, robotics, vigor storage, blockchain technology, and multiomics sequencing platforms are acceptable for premier time," she said.

Not each investors hold with Wood’s optimism. In the 12 months done March 5, the Ark Innovation ETF saw astir $1.2 cardinal successful nett outflows, according to ETF probe steadfast VettaFi.