Cathie Wood, head of Ark Investment Management, likes to buy and sell shares of her favorite technology companies as stock prices move up and down.
That’s what she just did with Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), selling nearly 59,000 shares before turning around and buying more than 60,000 shares during a broader market selloff.
Last year, her 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, Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is down 1.90% as of writing, while the S&P 500 has surged 7.76%, Yahoo Finance data shows.
Wood gained a reputation after 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 Nov. 6, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -9.05%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 9.45% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
Cathie Wood says AI boom won’t slow down
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 the stock market despite growing concerns about the Iran war, higher energy prices and the recent U.S. elections.
She rejected recent concerns that Democrats’ election victories could slow the AI boom.
Related: Cathie Wood buys $10.9 million of tumbling tech stock
“Can this election derail the AI revolution? We don’t think so,” Wood wrote in an X post on Nov. 7.
Wood expects companies building data centers to care more for the local economy. The benefits include lower property taxes, higher-paying jobs, commercial developments, and funding for schools and facilities.
Wood also believes AI-driven productivity gains will help ease affordability pressures while boosting corporate profits and investment.
“In our view, those gains will translate into higher compensation—helping to turn around affordability— as well as stronger margins, more investment, and lower prices,” she said.
Despite the market’s recent uncertainty, Wood believes investors are underestimating the economic growth that AI could deliver.
“We have experienced just a taste of this technology revolution,” she wrote. “The market’s uncertainty is understandable, but we believe the economy is on a stronger growth trajectory than most investors recognize.”
Not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. Over the past month through Nov. 5, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $2.19 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
Cathie Wood buys $17.2 million of Alphabet stock
On Nov. 5 and 6, Wood’s Ark funds bought a total of 60,553 shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOG), according to Ark’s daily trading information sent to TheStreet. These shares were worth about $17.2 million based on the latest closing price of $283.93.
The purchases came right after Wood sold a total of 58,694 shares of Alphabet on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4.
Wood made the purchase during a brutal market sell-off on Nov. 5, as investors reacted to the midterm election results and worried that the outcome could cap the expansion of AI data centers. The S&P 500 Index tumbled 4.36% that day and rebounded 0.31% on Nov. 6.
Related: Cathie Wood buys $47 million of popular semiconductor stock
Alphabet stock is down nearly 10% year-to-date. On Oct. 29, the stock plunged 12% after reporting disappointing third-quarter results, with its massive AI spending plans and negative free cash flow overshadowing growth in its Google Cloud business. That was the company’s worst post-earnings selloff on record.
Alphabet missed third-quarter estimates on both revenue and earnings, reporting $127.57 billion in sales versus the $128.2 billion expected. Earnings per share came in at $2.12, well below the $3.02 consensus.
Investors have been questioning whether the billions of dollars being poured into AI infrastructure will generate sufficient returns. Alphabet reported negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion, substantially worse than the $2.70 billion deficit expected by analysts.
The company maintained its full-year capital expenditure forecast of $195 billion to $205 billion, but warned that spending would increase significantly in 2027.
Several Wall Street analysts have lowered their price targets on Alphabet after earnings.
On Oct. 30, Wells Fargo cut its price target on Alphabet to $371 from $417 while maintaining an Overweight rating. The firm said Google’s search business was slowing more than expected, particularly compared with Meta Platforms’ strong advertising results.
Wells Fargo believes the shift toward AI-powered search is a key reason for the slowdown, even as search engagement continues to grow at record levels.
Citi also lowered its price target on Alphabet to $375 from $447 while maintaining a Buy rating. The analysts said the cut was to “reflect greater overall uncertainty,” according to a research note sent to TheStreet.
Citi raised concerns about AI search monetization, rising capital spending in 2027 and pressure on free cash flow.
“While we acknowledge the N-T headwinds at Google, we remain constructive on shares as greater RSI investment should accelerate model velocity, support newer product launches (such as Gemini Agent), and strengthen monetization across its Consumer and Enterprise functions while also improving internal productivity,” Citi said.
Alphabet is currently not in the top 10 holdings of the Ark Innovation ETF.
Top 10 holdings in the Ark Innovation ETF by market value and weight as of Nov. 6, 2026:
- Tesla (TSLA): $606.12 million, 10.74%
- SpaceX (SPCX): $410.80 million, 7.28%
- Tempus AI (TEM): $342.01 million, 6.06%
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): $272.64 million, 4.83%
- CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP): $266.69 million, 4.73%
- OpenAI (Private): $249.37 million, 4.42%
- Coinbase Global (COIN): $231.46 million, 4.10%
- Nvidia (NVDA): $209.02 million, 3.70%
- Shopify (SHOP): $187.15 million, 3.32%
- Twist Bioscience (TWST): $176.12 million, 3.12%
Other than buying Alphabet shares, Wood also bought shares of Natera (NTRA), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS), 10x Genomics (TXG), Coinbase Global (COIN), Cerebras Systems (CBRS), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Nvidia (NVDA), Tempus AI (TEM), Twist Bioscience (TWST), Scribe Therapeutics (SCTX), Iambic Therapeutics (IAM), AeroVironment (AVAV), Joby Aviation (JOBY), Rocket Lab (RKLB), and Intuitive Machines (LUNR).
Wood trimmed positions in Eli Lilly (LLY), Teradyne (TER), Bullish (BLSH), CoreWeave (CRWV), Broadcom (AVGO), BYD (BYDDY), Personalis (PSNL), and CareDx (CDNA).
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