Cathie Wood, chief of Ark Investment Management, is known for making quick moves in her favorite tech stocks.
This week, she reversed course on CoreWeave (CRWV), buying $19.2 million of the AI stock just days after selling shares.
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 14.04% as of writing, while the S&P 500 surged 11.38%, Yahoo Finance data shows.
Wood gained a reputation after the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a rosy 153% return in 2020. But her style also brings painful losses in bearish markets, as seen in 2022, when the ETF tumbled more than 60%.
Those swings have weighed on Wood’s long-term gains. As of Sept. 17, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -6.32%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 11.49% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
Cathie Wood says “AI will kill humanity” headlines were orchestrated
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 a 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. She has also pushed back against recent fears that AI could pose an existential threat to humanity.
On Sept. 12, Wood reposted a post by David Sacks on X (the former Twitter), saying he makes a good case that the “AI will kill humanity” headlines were orchestrated.
Related: Cathie Wood sells $28.7 million of megacap tech stock
At the same time, Wood acknowledged that AI, like other technologies, can be used for harmful purposes. She said people such as Elon Musk who highlight AI’s potential risks are “doing us a great service,” adding that “half of the solution — including AI — is understanding the problem.”
In August, 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.”
Not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. Over the past 12 months through Sept. 17, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.55 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
Cathie Wood buys $19.2 million of CoreWeave stock
On Sept. 17, Wood’s Ark funds bought a total of 239,083 shares of CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV), according to Ark’s daily trading information sent to TheStreet. These shares were worth about $19.2 million based on the latest price of $80.2.
The purchase was a quick reversal for Wood. Just three days earlier, on Sept. 14, Ark sold 64,923 shares of CoreWeave.
CoreWeave is a Nvidia-backed cloud infrastructure company that focuses on GPU-powered computing for AI workloads. Its data centers run on Nvidia chips, and major customers include Google (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT), which also compete with CoreWeave in the cloud computing market.
CoreWeave is not yet profitable. The stock is down 13% over the past month and has tumbled more than 40% from its year-to-date peak in May, when it traded around $138.
Related: Cathie Wood buys $3.5 million of surging tech stock
On Sept. 17, CoreWeave confirmed plans to raise $3 billion through convertible senior notes due in 2033, with an option for an additional $500 million.
The company plans to use some of the proceeds for capped call transactions to reduce potential stock dilution, with the rest going toward general corporate purposes.
Rosenblatt Securities said CoreWeave is using strong demand to shore up its balance sheet, noting the company has “continued to contract new compute capacity at higher prices,” as Investing.com reported. As of the end of the second quarter, CoreWeave had $35 billion in debt on its balance sheet to cover the cost of Nvidia GPUs and other equipment.
The analyst said additional equity raises were inevitable given CoreWeave’s high debt load, but remains bullish on its AI infrastructure spending.
“Driving every investable dollar into that equation makes perfect sense given that the useful life of those GPUs is likely well beyond their 6-year depreciation schedules,” Rosenblatt said.
The firm maintained a Buy rating and $250 price target on CoreWeave.
In August, CoreWeave reported second-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations. The company posted an adjusted loss of $1.03 per share, narrower than the $1.20 loss analysts expected. Revenue came in at $2.58 billion, 112% from a year earlier and above the $2.56 billion estimated by Wall Street.
For the third quarter, CoreWeave guided for revenue of $3.4 billion to $3.6 billion, implying 158% growth at the midpoint. Analysts surveyed had expected $3.43 billion, CNBC reported.
Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges raised her price target on CoreWeave to $139 from $121 while keeping a Neutral rating, The Fly reported on Aug. 21.
Borges said demand continues to outpace supply, GPU pricing remains firm across generations, and new capacity could help drive higher margins as CoreWeave’s installed base grows.
CoreWeave is not a top-10 holding in the Ark Innovation ETF.
Top 10 holdings in the Ark Innovation ETF by weight as of Sept. 18, 2026:
- Tesla (TSLA) – 9.38%
- SpaceX (SPCX) – 6.51%
- Tempus AI (TEM) – 6.16%
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL) – 4.86%
- CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) – 4.73%
- Coinbase Global (COIN) – 4.21%
- Robinhood Markets (HOOD) – 3.87%
- Twist Bioscience (TWST) – 3.71%
- 10x Genomics (TXG) – 3.43%
- Shopify (SHOP) – 2.88%
Other than buying CoreWeave shares, Wood’s latest trades included buying Meta Platforms (META) and AeroVironment (AVAV).
She also sold more shares of Alphabet (GOOG), Coinbase (COIN), Circle Internet Group (CRCL), Shopify (SHOP), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Tempus AI (TEM), Amazon (AMZN), BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), 10x Genomics (TXG), Natera (NTRA), GeneDx Holdings (WGS), Illumina (ILMN), Twist Bioscience (TWST), Bullish (BLSH), Brera Holdings (SLMT), and Teledyne Technologies (TDY).
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