What Is Cathie Wood Up To?

ARK Invest CEO and Chief Investment Officer Cathie Wood, has been making some notable trades lately. From unloading shares of Tesla to adding Fastly after a 30% decline. Let us try and pick her brain.

Thursday, after market close, ARK released its refreshed holdings to the public. According to the filing, Cathie Wood's Ark Next Generation Internet ETF ARKW purchased 304,300 shares of Fastly Inc FSLY who on Wednesday guided down on Q3 earnings. This announcement of a $4 million revenue cut sent shares tumbling down almost 30% (or one-third of their market cap). Fastly also announced a stock offering in the process, which helped lead to a deeper decline in Friday’s session of over 6%. 

Imagine that, guiding down a mere $4 million on revenue and your company loses over $2 billion in value. There is a saying that goes “There is nothing like price to change sentiment”. Let us not forget the fact that Fastly was trading at the same price Thursday as it was a month ago. It is obvious that Cathie Wood believes this drop is not justified and she sees real value in this company in the long term. If last week's weakness continues in the next weeks and months, it will be interesting to see how ARK approaches a negative position. 

Even more mind-boggling was the addition of Zoom Video Communications Inc ZM shares on Thursday. The reason we say it is mind-boggling is because Zoom was trading at all-time highs during the Thursday session, which seems like an odd place to add. The only reason we can think Wood would do such a thing is that she sees no more downside for Zoom from here. 

ARK also started buying shares in Chamath Palihapitiya’s SPAC Social Capital Hedosophia Crop II IPOB in late September. Shares are up 30% since her initial purchase. The updated holding sheets shows that she has been adding on the way up increasing her holdings by 1%. 

ARKK is one of the best performing ETFs of the year. Year-to-date returns are 107% which is a ludicrous amount for an ETF. Cathie Wood invests in growth stocks and it has paid immensely. She was laughed at and doubted when she was heavily investing in Tesla, as hedge funds were pummeling the company saying they would go bankrupt. But Tesla's massive rally has made it ARK’s largest holding, and put them on the map in the process. So when ARK Invest adds Zoom at all-time-highs and Fastly after a 30% drop, maybe we should take their word for it.