It was groundhog day all over again for money manager Cathie Wood, chief executive of Ark Investment Management, as she repeated trades of some of her big-name stocks.
Ark funds bought 353,962 shares of Coinbase Global (COIN), the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, valued at $20.6 million as of Thursday’s close.
The company’s shares have tumbled 70% over the past 12 months amid turmoil in the cryptocurrency market. But they have rebounded 51% this year, helped by bitcoin’s recovery. Coinbase is the sixth biggest holding in Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK).
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Also Thursday, Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) snatched 265,566 shares of online securities brokerage Robinhood Markets (HOOD), valued at $2.5 million as of that day’s close. Robinhood is the 13th biggest holding in Ark Next Generation.
The stock has slid 28% over the past year amid muted stock-trading from individuals as the equity market dropped. But Robinhood shares have rebounded 11% year to date, helped by rising interest income.
Robinhood puts some of its customers’ uninvested cash into bank accounts to earn interest revenue. And the Federal Reserve has pushed interest rates sharply higher over the past year, leading to higher deposit rates.
Exact Sciences Sale
On the selling side, Ark funds dumped 221,444 shares of Exact Sciences (EXAS) Thursday, valued at $14.3 million as of that day’s close. The company is a medical diagnostics provider noted for its Cologuard at-home colon cancer test.
Exact Sciences stock has climbed 25% thus far in 2023, buoyed by strong earnings. Shares have slipped 14% over the past year.
Wednesday represented the seventh day in a row that Wood has pared her Exact Sciences position. Ark has shed more than 3 million Exact Sciences shares since the beginning of this year. But the company is still the fourth biggest holding in Ark Innovation.
Wood’s Lagging Returns
Meanwhile, Wood’s performance hasn’t exactly lit the investment world on fire over the past year, as her young technology stocks have slumped. Ark Innovation has descended 42% during that period and 77% from its February 2021 peak.
Still, the fund has bounced back 15% so far this year, as tech stocks have rebounded in general.
Mama Cathie, as Wood is known to her fans, defends her strategy by noting that she has a five-year investment horizon. But the five-year annualized return of $7 billion-asset Ark Innovation was negative 2.41% through March 9, compared with positive 8.95% for the S&P 500.
The fund’s performance also doesn’t come close to Wood’s goal for annualized returns of 15% over five-year periods.
Ark Innovation suffered a net investment outflow of $180 million during the past five days, according to ETF research firm VettaFi. But it enjoyed a $631 million inflow over the last year.
