Cathie Wood’s Latest Stock Picks: 11 Biggest Positions

Ramish Cheema
9 min read

In This Article:

In this piece, we will take a look at Cathie Wood's latest stock picks and the 12 biggest positions in Ark Invest's latest investment portfolio. If you want to skip our overview of the well known hedge fund boss, her firm, and the latest news, then you can skip ahead to Cathie Wood's Latest Stock Picks: 5 Biggest Positions.

The past two years have been some of the toughest in the stock market's recent history. Most investors typically love it when the the economy is growing and capital is easily available since it provides them the opportunity to make comfortable bets rapidly. However, these bets, which often involve high risk growth stocks or firms in the technology industry, can rapidly sour if the broader sentiment about consumer and business economic health becomes uncertain.

If you ask us, no one would understand this better than Cathie Wood. In a hedge fund industry that has its fair share of big ticket names, Ms. Wood's hedge fund still manages to stand out from the pack. While most hedge funds often prefer to invest in broader sectors that each perform well in different economic environments, Ark Invest is focused on stocks that it believes have the highest disruptive potential.

In 2022, when major indexes rapidly tanked in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the lax monetary policies of the coronavirus pandemic, Ark Invest didn't do so well. How do we know? Well, Insider Monkey looked at Cathie Wood's top stock picks for the third quarter of 2022 as part of our coverage of Cathie Wood Is Loading Up On These 12 Stocks. As part of our research for the piece, we discovered that when the Federal Reserve was hiking interest rates in chunks of 75 basis points and Americans were facing double digit inflation, Ark Investment lost nearly all of its money. Data from December 2022 shows that by December 16, 2022, the fund had dropped by an unbelievable 67%. This made Ark one of the worst performing funds at the time, and the hits were evident in the portfolio value.

According to Insider Monkey's research, Ark Investment's portfolio value was $11.5 billion as December 2022 came to a close. While a sizeable amount on its own accord, this marked another eye opening 65% drop over the year ago figure of $33 billion. From the $11.5 billion in December 2022, as of 2023's close, Ark's investment portfolio had slightly grown to sit at $16.8 billion.  As for its performance, Ark roared back to life in 2023 as its flagship exchange traded fund (ETF), the Ark Innovation ETF, gained 70% last year. This was unsurprising, as 2023 was quite a tumultuous year that saw many analysts and economists unable to stop scratching their heads. Not only did the U.S. economy not slip into a recession, but the economy kept on growing despite high interest rates. Apart from rates coming down, this was the best that anyone could hope for, and Ark Innovation was also helped by its technology heavy bets which benefited from the A.I. hype.

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