Cathie Wood, head of Ark Investment Management, is known for buying stocks when they dip and selling after strong runs—and she just unloaded about $40 million of one of Ark’s top holdings as investors grow increasingly jittery about a possible tech bubble.
Wood made a name for herself after the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a jaw-dropping 153% return in 2020. Year to date, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up 39.54% as of December 12, far outpacing the S&P 500’s gain of 16.08% in the same period.
But walau, Wood’s aggressive style brings sweet wins in rising markets and painful losses in bearish ones—as seen in 2022, when the Ark Innovation ETF tumbled more than 60%.
The Long-Term Picture Isn’t Pretty Leh
Those wild swings have taken a toll on her long-term results. As of December 12, the Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -7.83%, while the S&P 500 has posted an annualized return of 14.94% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
In the 12 months through December 10, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.19 billion in net outflows—ouch.
Wood Rejects “AI Bubble” Talk
Wood’s strategy is straightforward: Her Ark ETFs focus on emerging high-tech companies in areas like artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics.
Wood sees these businesses as potential forces for massive change and long-term growth, though their volatility often creates wild fluctuations in the value of Ark’s funds.
From 2014 to 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out $7 billion in investor wealth, according to an analysis by Morningstar analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott’s ranking—not exactly something to brag about lor.
In October, Wood said in a CNBC interview that she expects to see a market “shudder” as interest rates begin to rise.
Still, Wood remains bullish on AI’s potential, dismissing bubble concerns amid worries about sky-high tech stock valuations.
“I do not believe AI is in a bubble,” Wood said. “What I do think is, on the enterprise side, it is going to take a while for large corporations to prepare themselves to transform…in order to really capitalize on the productivity gains that we think are going to be unleashed by AI.”
Not all investors are buying what Wood’s selling lah. In the 12 months through December 10, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.19 billion in net outflows, according to ETF research firm VettaFi.
Tesla Gets the Chop
On December 12, Wood’s Ark funds sold 87,993 shares of Tesla Inc. (TSLA), valued at about $40.4 million, marking one of her largest recent disposals. The move followed earlier sales totaling 47,456 Tesla shares on December 4, 5, and 8.
Interestingly, Wood had increased her Tesla position in Q3 2025, adding about 512,000 shares. The move came after four consecutive quarters of selling, during which she offloaded 2.2 million Tesla shares from Q3 2024 to Q2 2025, according to Stockcircle’s data.
Source: The Street
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