- ARKK
- ^GSPC
- NVDA
Cathie Wood, chief of Ark Investment Management, often uses post-earnings swings to add to her favorite tech stocks.
This week, she’s buying more Nvidia, adding $53 million to her stake as the stock pulled back a day after surging on better-than-expected earnings.
Last year, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s return of 17.88% in the same period. So far this year, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up 9.97% as of August 28, while the S&P 500 surged 12.65%, Yahoo Finance data shows.
Wood gained a reputation after the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a 153% return in 2020. But her style also brings painful losses in bearish markets, as seen in 2022, when the Ark Innovation ETF tumbled more than 60%.
Those swings have weighed on Wood’s long-term gains. As of August 28, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -6.91%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 11.33% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
Cathie Wood says AI could help support high corporate profits
Wood focuses on high-tech companies across artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics. She believes these businesses have strong growth potential, but their volatility often causes fluctuations in the Ark’s funds.
Over the decade ended 2025, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out nearly $5 billion in investor wealth, according to an report by Morningstar’s analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the fourth-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in the ranking.
Wood remains optimistic about AI, which she sees as a major driver of productivity, economic growth, and corporate profits in the years ahead.
In an Aug. 9 post on X, Wood said U.S. corporate profits remain unusually strong, with domestic profits before tax at 13.2% of GDP, a level she said is near multi-decade highs.
Some of that strength came from the massive monetary and fiscal stimulus during the pandemic, but Wood believes another factor is helping sustain margins today: companies are leaning into AI and productivity gains to protect them.
“I think we’re still early in seeing how far that can go,” she said, adding that companies that use AI effectively will “separate themselves from the ones that don’t.”
But not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. Over the past 12 months through August 27, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $2.09 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
