Kathy Woodhead of Ark Investment Management, has a history of buying stocks shortly after their IPOs.
In recent years, Wood’s Ark funds have invested in newly public companies such as Tempus AI (TEM), Coinbase (COINS), and CoreWeave (CRV), reflecting its strategy of early access to high-growth companies in artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and cloud computing.
Now Wood is doing another IPO bid, buying more than $529 million SpaceX stock.
Ark Innovation’s flagship ETF gained 35.49% in 2025, well ahead of S&P 500return of 17.88% over the same period. But so far this year, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (LETTER) fell 2.85%, while the S&P 500 rose 8.56%, Data from Yahoo Finance shows.
Wood gained notoriety after the Ark Innovation ETF returned 153% in 2020. However, her style also brings painful losses in bear markets, as seen in 2022 when the Ark Innovation ETF fell more than 60%.
These fluctuations affected Wood’s long-term success. As of June 12, the Ark Innovation ETF has earned a five-year annualized return -8.06%while S&P 500 has an annual income 11.84% for the same period, according to data from Morning star.
Cathy Wood expects a “big acceleration” caused by the development of technology
Wood focuses on high-tech companies with artificial intelligence, blockchainbiomedical technology and robotics. She believes that these businesses have strong growth potential, though theirs volatility often causes fluctuations in the funds of the Ark.
According to a Morningstar analyst Bella Albrechttwo of Wood’s Ark funds were among the worst-performing ETFs in the first quarter of 2026. The Ark Next Generation Online ETF (ARKW) ranked second on the list, and the ARK Innovation ETF ranked fifth.
In the last 12 months through June 11, the ARK Innovation ETF had net outflows of approximately $294.27 million. Getty Images
From 2014 to 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out $7 billion in investor wealth, according to a March 2025 analysis by Morningstar. Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott’s rankings. The analyst did not update his rating.
“I believe that Kevin Warsh knows that interest rates have to come down, at least mortgage rates. inflation goes down as productivity goes up, no matter how strong the economy is, I think he’s going to cut rates,” Wood said.
Wood argued that productivity gains from technology help stimulate the economy while reducing inflation. She added that oil prices already seem to have peaked and could fall further if the war in Iran is resolved.
In March The Bloomberg PodcastWood says the global economy is not headed for a recession, but for what she calls a “big acceleration” driven by AI and other disruptive technologies.
“We are not going to Great depressionwe’re headed for a big acceleration,” Wood said. “These technologies are causing deflation… The cost of training AI is dropping by 75% per year, and the cost of inference is dropping by 85% to even 98% annually.”
But not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. ARK Innovation ETF had net outflows of approximately $294.27 million in the 12 months through June 11, according to ETF Research VettaFi.
Kathy Wood buys $529.7million shares of SpaceX
On June 12, Wood’s Ark funds purchased a total of 3,291,184 shares of Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SPCX), better known as SpaceX. Based on the last closing price of $160.95, these shares were worth about $529.7 million.
June 12 was SpaceX’s first day of trading, and its stock rose 19%. The rally pushed Elon Muskhis net worth exceeds $1 trillion, making him the world’s first trillionaire. Musk is also the CEO of electric car maker Tesla (TSLA).
Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 as a rocket company, but today its only profitable business is its Starlink satellite internet division. According to the company avenueSpaceX has an accumulated deficit of $41.3 billion as of March 31.
Wood was already an investor in SpaceX before the company’s IPO. Ark Invest first bought shares in SpaceX in late 2023 and later became the largest holding in the company’s domestic venture capital fund, worth about $1 billion. according to Business Insider.
Wood has long been one of Musk’s biggest supporters. During a CNBC show in 2023 that covered TheStreet’s Moz Farooqshe said periods of turmoil often bring out Musk’s best work.
“These tough times, however, fuel Elon’s creativity. He’s a great troubleshooter and a brilliant technologist,” Wood said.
Still, many other investors and analysts are skeptical of SpaceX’s momentum, citing valuation concerns and the large share of retail investors in the IPO.
“The more immediate concern is the large retail distribution,” veteran technical trader James DePore wrote in a recent post on TheStreet Pro. “The retail distribution is 30% of the supply, which is much higher than the usual 5 to 10%.”
Depor noted that retail investors who received the $135 distribution, have an incentive to sell their shares if the price moves significantly higher. “This will create some supply pressure,” he wrote.
In addition to buying shares of SpaceX, Wood’s recent trades also included selling shares of Tesla ( TSLA ), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Rocket Laboratory (RKLB), year (OF THE YEAR), and Chinese technology company Baidu (BEGINNING).
