Cathie Wood, head of Ark Investment Management, frequently adjusts her tech positions. She buys more when stock prices fall and trims when they rally, locking in short-term gains while sticking to her long-term vision.
That’s what she just did, adding shares of a megacap tech company that’s down nearly 30% year-to-date.
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. But as of April 10, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) was down roughly 11% year to date, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.42%.
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 April 10, the Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -10.7%, while the S&P 500 saw an annualized return of 12.2% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
Cathie Wood expects “great acceleration” from tech developments
Wood focuses on high-tech companies across artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics. She thinks these businesses have strong growth potential, though their volatility often causes fluctuations in the Ark’s funds.
From 2014 to 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out $7 billion in investor wealth, according to a March 2025 analysis by Morningstar’s analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott’s ranking. The analyst hasn’t updated the 2025 ranking.
In a March 23 Bloomberg podcast, Wood says the global economy is not heading into a downturn, but into what she calls a “great acceleration” driven by AI and other breakthrough technologies.
“We’re not going into the Great Depression, we’re going into the great acceleration,” Wood said, pointing to how past technological revolutions reshaped economic growth.
She noted that global real GDP growth averaged just 0.6% between 1500 and 1900, before the Industrial Revolution lifted it to around 3% for more than a century. Now, she argues, a new wave of innovation could push growth much higher.
“We think [technologies] are going to take growth into the 7 to 8% range,” Wood said, adding that the number may actually be conservative.
Wood also noted that AI is driving down costs across industries.
“These technologies are deflationary,” she said. “AI training costs are dropping 75% per year, and inference costs are falling as much as 85% to even 98% annually.”
In a letter published in January, Wood rejects the “AI bubble” talk, saying it “is years away” and “the most powerful capital spending cycle in history” is coming.
“What once was the cap in spending seems to have become a floor now that the AI, robotics, energy storage, blockchain technology, and multiomics sequencing platforms are ready for prime time,” she said.
But not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. In the 12 months through April 9, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.34 billion in net outflows, with $225 million exiting the fund over the past month, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
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Cathie Wood buys $11 million of Palantir stock
On April 10, Wood’s Ark funds bought a total of 85,485 shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR), according to Ark’s daily trade information. These shares are valued at roughly $11 million as of the latest closing price of $128.11.
Shares of Palantir are down 28% year to date, driven by software sell-offs and broader market volatility. In the past week, the stock tumbled about 14%, the worst weekly performance in a year.
The AI software provider has been one of the hottest AI names, with the stock soaring 135% in 2025 and 340% in 2024, driven by surging demand for its AI software and record revenue growth, along with heavy retail investor buying.
However, investors and analysts have expressed concerns about its elevated valuation and how AI could affect software providers.
Palantir develops data analytics and AI software platforms, helping organizations, including the U.S. government and the army, analyze complex data.
On Feb. 2, Palantir reported strong earnings results, with fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 25 cents per share, ahead of the 23-cent consensus. Revenue rose 70% year over year to $1.41 billion, beating Wall Street estimates of $1.33 billion.
The U.S. Army played a key role in contributing revenue. In July 2025, the company was awarded a deal worth up to $10 billion with the U.S. Army.
The U.S. military is reportedly using Palantir’s Maven Smart System to help identify targets in the Middle East, including the recent strikes on Iran.
President Donald Trump defended Palantir in a post on Truth Social on April 10, saying:
“Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment. Just ask our enemies!!!”
“Big Short” investor Michael Burry reiterated his bearish view against Palantir after Trump’s vote of confidence.
“I now own the June 17, 2027, Strike Price 50 Puts and the December 19, 2026 Strike Price 100 Puts. I am not selling these today,” Burry wrote, as reported by Invezz.
Last year, Burry took bearish bets against Palantir and Nvidia (NVDA), prompting Palantir CEO Alex Karp to call the move “super weird” and “bats**t crazy,” CNBC reported.
Palantir is no longer among the top 10 holdings of Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF. Wood has been steadily trimming Palantir shares over the past several quarters, selling a total of roughly 9.8 million shares from Q3 2024 through Q4 2025, according to data from Stockcircle.
Top 10 holdings of the Ark Innovation ETF as of April 2, 2026:
- Tesla (TSLA) 9.68%
- CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) 6.62%
- Tempus AI (TEM) 4.68%
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) 4.52%
- Shopify (SHOP) 4.46%
- Robinhood Markets (HOOD) 4.39%
- Coinbase Global (COIN) 4.18%
- Roku (ROKU) 4.08%
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL) 3.95%
- Beam Therapeutics (BEAM) 3.63%
Wood’s last Palantir move was in January, when she sold 58,741 shares. The recent purchase likely signals renewed confidence in the stock after weeks of pullback. After all, this is the stock she once called “the biggest part of the tech stack when it comes to AI.”
“Palantir is a very expensive stock, but there’s nothing like it in the software space,” Wood said in a CNBC interview last year. “It is, we believe, going to dominate the biggest part of the tech stack when it comes to AI. And that’s the platform as a service part of the stack.”
In addition to buying Palantir stocks, Wood also added stakes in Tesla (TSLA), Robinhood (HOOD), and Kodiak AI (KDK). She sold shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
