Cathie Wood sells $11.6 million of surging tech stock

Cathie Wood, main of Ark Investment Management, often locks successful gains erstwhile her favourite tech stocks surge.

That's what she's doing with Palantir Technologies (PLTR), trimming her presumption aft the banal jumped much than 30% implicit the past month, fueled by a crisp post-earnings rally.

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. But truthful acold this year, Wood's flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up 4.15% arsenic of Aug. 14, portion the S&P 500 surged 13.74%, Yahoo Finance information show.

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%.

Those swings person weighed connected Wood's semipermanent gains. As of Aug. 14, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized instrumentality of -7.40%, portion the S&P 500 had an annualized instrumentality of 11.75% implicit the aforesaid period, according to information from Morningstar.

Cathie Wood says AI could assistance prolong precocious firm profits

Wood usually focuses connected high-tech companies crossed artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics. She believes these businesses person beardown maturation potential, though their volatility often causes fluctuations successful the Ark's funds.

Over the decennary ended 2025, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped retired astir $5 cardinal successful capitalist wealth, according to an investigation by Morningstar's expert Amy Arnott. That made it the fourth-biggest wealthiness destroyer among communal funds and ETFs successful the ranking.

Wood remains optimistic astir AI, which she sees arsenic a large operator of productivity, economical growth, and firm profits successful the years ahead.

In a caller station connected X (the erstwhile Twitter), Wood said U.S. firm profits stay unusually strong, with home profits earlier taxation astatine 13.2% of GDP, a level she said is adjacent multi-decade highs. 

Related: Cathie Wood buys $16.2 cardinal of fashionable semiconductor stock

Some of that spot came from the monolithic monetary and fiscal stimulus during the pandemic, but Wood believes different origin is helping prolong margins today: Companies are leaning into AI and productivity gains to support them.

"I deliberation we're inactive aboriginal successful seeing however acold that tin go," she said, adding that companies that usage AI efficaciously volition "separate themselves from the ones that don't."

Wood besides recovered reasons for optimism successful the latest U.S. jobs report, contempt nonfarm payrolls falling by 23,000.