Cathie Wood, chief of Ark Investment Management, often shifts money between her favorite tech stocks.
This week she sold $28.7 million of Alphabet while pouring money into Meta Platforms, as the Facebook parent pushes deeper into AI.
Last year, her flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) 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 is up 8.66% as of writing, while the S&P 500 surged 11.85%, 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 Ark Innovation ETF tumbled more than 60%.
Those swings have weighed on Wood’s long-term gains. As of Sept. 11, Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -6.89%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 11.42% 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, 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.
“Two hundred railroads went bankrupt in the 1800s. I don’t think the AI buildout will end the same way. The railroads were built on a hope and a prayer while AI revenues seem to be screaming,” Wood said in a recent post on X.
Related: Cathie Wood buys $6.5 million of surging semiconductor stock
In another August 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 Sept. 10, Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $2.3 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
Over the past 12 months through Sept. 10, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $2.3 billion in net outflows.Getty Images
Cathie Wood sells $28.7 million of Alphabet stock
On Sept. 9 and 11, Wood’s Ark funds sold a total of 86,531 shares of Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), according to Ark’s daily trading information sent to TheStreet. These stocks were worth about $28.7 million.
Meanwhile, Wood on Sept. 9 bought 43,091 Meta Platforms (META) shares worth about $27.9 million as the stock hit a two-month high on excitement around its latest AI moves, including the launch of its Muse AI assistant earlier this week.
Mizuho says Meta’s new Muse AI agent could pressure Google and give Meta shares another boost, according to The Fly.
Related: Morgan Stanley renews Apple stock forecast after iPhone Duo launch
After testing Muse, the firm was impressed by its polish, range of features, news-feed integration and free access. Mizuho says the product could be the start of a major new cycle for Meta that investors haven’t fully priced in yet.
Google is still one of the strongest players in the megacap AI race. Beyond Gemini, Google has its own AI chips and a large cloud business, while Search, YouTube and Android give it plenty of places to put new AI products in front of users.
Alphabet’s July earnings showed strength in Google Cloud, helped by growing demand for AI products and infrastructure. Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% to $24.8 billion in the second quarter.
Overall revenue reached $119.8 billion for the second quarter, topping the $116.93 billion expected by analysts, while adjusted earnings of $2.85 per share fell slightly short of the $2.89 estimate, CNBC reported. Google has also been pushing AI deeper into Search through AI Overviews and AI Mode.
But competing at the top of the AI race comes with a big price tag. Google has been pouring money into servers, data centers, and networking equipment to support its AI models and cloud customers.
Google has increased its capex for this year to between $195 billion and $205 billion to meet the growing demand for AI computing, up from the $180 billion to $190 billion forecast provided last quarter.
“We’re still in a supply-constrained environment,” said Google’s finance chief Anat Ashkenazi during the July earnings call. “We are seeing very strong demand both from external cloud customers as well as across the business.”
This week, the company announced another $15.1 billion investment in AI infrastructure in Finland, including three new data centers that will support Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube, Reuters reported.
Alphabet stock is up about 7% year-to-date, underperforming the S&P 500 index.
Alphabet is not a top-10 holding in the Ark Innovation ETF. Before the latest sales, Wood sold roughly 10,000 Alphabet shares in late July after buying more than 100,000 shares on June 3.
Top 10 Holdings in the Ark Innovation ETF by weight as of Sept. 11, 2026:
Tesla (TSLA) – 9.75%
SpaceX (SPCX) – 6.52%
Circle Internet Group (CRCL) – 5.56%
Tempus AI (TEM) – 4.83%
CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) – 4.52%
Coinbase (COIN) – 4.47%
Robinhood (HOOD) – 4.18%
Twist Bioscience (TWST) – 3.29%
10x Genomics (TXG) – 3.21%
Shopify (SHOP) – 3.07%
Other than selling Alphabet shares, Wood’s latest trades included buying Meta Platforms (META), Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA), and CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP).
She also sold shares of Brera Holdings (SLMT), GeneDx Holdings (WGS), Tempus AI (TEM), 10x Genomics (TXG), Bullish (BLSH), and Twist Bioscience (TWST).
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