Cathie Wood is the founder, CEO and chief investment officer (CIO) of ARK Investment Management. The company, known by brand name ARK Invest, has been a disruptive force on Wall Street since its founding in 2014. ARK Invest has close to $7 billion in assets under management.
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Wood has been in the investment industry for more than 40 years, having held top positions at Capital Group, Jennison Associates and Global Thematic Strategies, where she personally managed over $5 billion in assets for AllianceBernstein. Wood has detractors who claim she’s too aggressive with investors’ funds and not as objective as she should be about the stocks she invests in. But Wood also has legions of fans who claim she’s a visionary portfolio manager with courage behind her convictions.
Wood is known for putting big money behind big ideas. She started ARK Invest to concentrate her investing efforts on the information technology sector, which she believes is transforming our world today the way industrial technologies changed the world in the 19th century.
She was buying blockchain technology and cryptocurrency well before it was fashionable, and was among the first to see the vast commercial, industrial and investment potential in artificial intelligence (AI). Her family of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, invest in robotics, advanced biopharmaceuticals to include gene editing and immunotherapy, high tech payment processing and banking applications, and other groundbreaking technologies.
In 2020, ARK Invest’s incredible performance — fueled by large investments in Tesla Inc. (ticker: TSLA), Roku Inc. (ROKU) and Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM) — made Wood a household name among active retail investors, especially those interested in tech. In the risk-off environment following the COVID-19 pandemic, however, tech stocks underwent a bit of a cyclical realignment. They never went out of favor, but they did become a less dominant asset class. ARK’s performance suffered proportionately, but Wood’s reputation as an asset management trendsetter and premier stock picker has endured.
Wood remains one of the most closely followed money managers on Wall Street. Given her past blockbuster performance numbers, it’s easy to see why. If you’re curious to know where this colorful and controversial money manager is deploying capital now, check out this up-to-date list of six stocks Wood is buying:
| Stock | Trade (number of shares) | Date |
| Archer Aviation Inc. (ACHR) | +830,000 | Oct. 29 |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) | +111,080 | Oct. 30 |
| Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (ARCT) | +72,000 | Nov. 6-8 |
| Illumina Inc. (ILMN) | +93,000 | Nov. 8 |
| Trade Desk Inc. (TTD) | +52,101 | Nov. 8 |
| Joby Aviation Inc. (JOBY) | +200,423 | Oct. 25 |
Archer Aviation Inc. (ACHR)
A few decades ago, the idea of flying cars was relegated to the realm of science fiction. That’s no longer the case. ACHR is a high-tech engineering company focused on developing commercially viable, all-electric small commercial aircraft with vertical take-off and landing.
This six-year-old company has already achieved a market cap of close to $2 billion. Its goal is to eventually create a global air taxi service where riders hail flying cabs from apps on their phones, computers or other smart devices. The idea is to enhance rider convenience and cut down on traffic congestion.
The company’s prototype craft — called Maker — is designed to be very quiet, have zero emissions and require only minimal urban infrastructure.
The high growth potential, advanced technology and disruptive nature of ACHR technology has attracted Wood’s attention. On Oct 29, she purchased just over 830,000 shares of the stock for inclusion in her ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK).
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)
Wood is becoming increasingly bullish on AMD. In recent weeks, she purchased over 110,000 shares of the stock and allocated it among ARKK, as well as ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ) and ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX).
AMD is a global leader in the design and manufacture of highly advanced microchips, semiconductors and computer graphic cards. The chips and switches this company engineers are used in smartphones, tablets, automobile technology, space exploration, medical applications and more.
Wood’s interest in the stock was spurred by the company’s x86 microprocessors and graphics processing units. These chips are instrumental to the fast-growing field of digital infrastructure that includes data centers, server farms, cryptocurrency mining facilities and general data processing.
Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (ARCT)
Wood is aggressively accumulating ARCT in ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG). She purchased about 72,000 shares of the stock from Nov. 6-8, and that’s on top of the roughly 107,000 shares she bought for the fund in August.
ARCT is a $552 million biopharmaceutical company that’s working on developing RNA vaccines and other medicines for the treatment of rare liver and lung diseases. One of its protocols — designated ARCT-810 — is in phase 2 clinical trials for treatment of ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency in the liver.
The company is leveraging several strategic partnerships to advance its research, development and distribution efforts, including a high-profile collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh.
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Illumina Inc. (ILMN)
Many investors consider ARKK to be ARK Invest’s flagship ETF. That’s why Wood’s Nov. 8 purchase of 93,000 shares of ILMN for ARKK caught the attention of Wall Street.
San Diego-based ILMN is a $24 billion global biotech company that focuses on the emerging science of genetic sequencing. The company is a leader in the field of genomics, and it develops advanced high-speed sequencing technology that can analyze and generate reports on various samples of genetic material.
The firm already plays a pivotal role in genomic research, but Wood believes ILMN will, in time, make huge strides in cancer research and reproductive health. She is also optimistic that ILMN will eventually find more profitable commercial applications in the agriculture and environmental science fields.
In addition to gene sequencing, which is the company’s bread and butter, ILMN is developing microarray platforms to be used to analyze gene expression, genotyping and epigenetic research.
Trade Desk Inc. (TTD)
Founded in 2009, Ventura, California-based TTD is a $64 billion information technology company that operates around the globe. The company provides enterprise customers with a fully cloud-based, digital advertising service that’s increasingly powered by AI.
The user-friendly platform allows businesses to plan advertising campaigns and manage them in real time even as they’re being implemented. Meanwhile, the campaign is constantly being analyzed and actionable feedback is delivered to customers. This allows clients of TTD to optimize and improve their advertising efforts as they are happening.
The kind of technology and innovation being developed by TTD is exactly what Wood looks for in stocks. Wood recently bought 52,101 shares of this tech stock for ARKK and ARKW, a fund that concentrates on cloud computing, the internet and mobile technology.
Joby Aviation Inc. (JOBY)
ACHR is not the only air-taxi-ride-hailing stock Wood is buying. In late October, she purchased over 200,000 shares of JOBY, which is in the same business and pursuing the same market but has its own proprietary technology platforms. She allocated the shares to ARKX and ARKQ.
Joby Aviation is looking to deploy a fleet of electric flying taxis that can take off and land vertically using about the same area as an extra large parking space. Right now, Joby is focused on perfecting the safety, reliability and ride of its aircraft, but it fully intends to build an aerial ride application that will rival what Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) and Lyft Inc. (LYFT) have accomplished for ground transportation.
ARK Invest isn’t the only firm that’s bullish on JOBY. H.C. Wainwright has the stock rated “buy” and Cantor Fitzgerald maintains an “overweight” rating on the company.
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6 Stocks Cathie Wood is Buying originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 11/12/24: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.