Cathie Wood, the American investor and founder of Ark Invest, has topped up her significant Tesla (TSLA) holdings by some 51,960 shares and promptly dropped them into the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK).

According to Reuters, Wood has also gone in for some 17,369 shares of Tesla stock and plonked those into her ARK Next Generation internet ETF (ARKW).

The news agency cited an email this week detailing the recent Tesla trades, showing the futurist fund manager is taking advantage of the dip in Tesla stock prices.

The purchases are ARK’s first since January and come after Tesla stock has dipped about 15% from February highs.

Tesla: Not out of the Wood’s by a long shot. Screenshot via Twitter

In January, after copping enormous stick for an awful 2022, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation (ARKK) ETF delivered its best month of gains ever, some 27.9% worth of wins – just as investors might’ve been starting to crack.

Now the Ark Innovation Fund’s asset management firm Ark Invest, has gained strongly so far in 2023,  after losing nearly 70% of its value last year.

In January, the ARKK ETF delivered investors its best month of gains ever, some 28% worth of wins, prompting a delerious Wood to tell CNBC: “We are the Nasdaq.”

 

Shopping with Cathie

In her annual “Big Ideas” report last month, Ark forecast Bitcoin could surpass $1 million before the end of this decade and recently said Tesla stock, – easily the top holding across all Ark funds, – has some 800% to go before topping out around US$1,500 by 2028.

According to regulatory disclosures from last month, Wood took advantage of TSLA’s weaker share price for half a million more Tesla shares at circa US$100 million, some 360,000 of blockchain play COIN (worth US$23 million), and US$12 million worth of the New York telehealth firm Teladoc (TDOC).

ARK Invest increased stakes in Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA), video game open platform Roblox (RBLX) and another US genomics firm, Twist Bioscience (TWST).

Wood’s been a rock-star stock-picker ever since the circa US$60 billion (assets) ARK Invest took root with the pre-meme stock generation, striking a chord with pure play investments in sci-fi channel style innovations like anything Elon Musk thinks of.

For the 12 months leading into mid-2021, when the Ark Innovation Fund ‘s bleeding really began, ARKK had returned some 240% percent, making The S&P 500’s 14% look somewhat etiolated.

 

Hot on the scent of Musk

Wood’s funds, (which total some US$60 billion in assets) added Tesla stock consistently in December and January, with ARK Invest purchasing about 1.3 million shares in those 8 weeks. About 1.1 million of went into the Innovation ETF.

Wood is not just a Musk accolyte, but a true believer.

 

Despite Tesla’s dissapointing investor day, it’s hard to deny that the timing of ARK’s latest trades look whipsmart.

With the average price of Tesla stock throughout the purchases standing somewhere around US$124 a pop.

Coming into what would be a calamitous Thursday and Friday on Wall Street,  Tesla stock has fallen three consecutive days and six out of the past seven.

The Elon Musk-led carmakers’ stock value is down at around US$ 100 again or some 15%, since the  limp but not too badly received March 1 event.

It seems Wood remains as laser-focused on her emergent technology thesis which has been her pre-determinant on trading markets since ARKK first burst  onto the scene some 8 years ago.

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