Cathie Wood buys $36.1 million of tumbling tech stock

Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Investment Management, is known for buying high-growth stocks soon after they go public, especially when share prices pull back after an early rally.

That’s exactly what she’s doing with SpaceX this week, adding more than $36 million worth of the newly public stock as it trades below its IPO price for the first time.

In 2025, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s return of 17.88% in the same period. So far this year, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is down 1.43% year to date, while the S&P 500 surged 10.13% as of this writing, Yahoo Finance data show.

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. To date, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -7.16%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 11.67% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.

Cathie Wood flags “the deflationary impact” of tech innovation

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 her ranking.

Wood believes investors have been focusing on the wrong signals as they assess the outlook for inflation, interest rates, and stocks.

In a June post on X (the former Twitter), Wood said the bond market increasingly reflects the deflationary impact of technological innovation, particularly artificial intelligence, rather than the inflation risks many investors still fear.

Wood pointed to the continued flattening of the Treasury yield curve, despite a sharp rise in oil prices over the past year. In previous cycles, she noted, an energy shock of that magnitude would have pushed long-term yields higher.

Wood believes the bond market is “discounting something much more powerful: the deflationary impact of technological innovation, particularly artificial intelligence, which is beginning to increase productivity across broad swaths of the economy.”

She also said easing tensions with Iran and a decline in oil prices could push inflation even lower.

“The next phase of this cycle could be characterized by accelerating growth, declining inflation, falling interest rates, and a strengthening U.S. dollar,” Wood said. “That combination would create a remarkably supportive backdrop for innovation-led equities and the technologies driving the next productivity boom.”

But not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. Over the past 12 months through July 15, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.2 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.

Over the past 12 months through July 15, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.2 billion in net outflows.

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Cathie Wood buys $36.1 million of SpaceX stock

On July 13 and 15, Wood’s Ark funds bought 276,056 shares of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX), also known as SpaceX, according to Ark’s daily trade information. Based on the price of $130.93 as of writing, the shares are valued at about $36.1 million.

Wood has been an aggressive buyer of SpaceX this month. Including the latest purchases, Ark has acquired a total of 624,781 SpaceX shares in July, with the stake now valued at approximately $81.8 million.

SpaceX went public on June 12, with shares jumping 19% on their first day of trading. The blockbuster debut pushed founder and CEO Elon Musk‘s net worth above $1 trillion, making him the world’s first trillionaire. Musk also serves as CEO of Tesla.

Since then, however, the stock has given back much of those early gains. Shares are now down about 40% from their post-IPO high of $225.64 on June 16, falling below the $135 IPO price this week as investors reassess the company’s lofty valuation and prepare for a wave of insider shares to become eligible for sale after the upcoming earnings report.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 as a reusable rocket company, but today its only profitable business is the Starlink satellite internet division. According to the company’s prospectus, SpaceX has an accumulated deficit of $41.3 billion as of March 31.

Despite the recent pullback, Wall Street remains largely bullish on SpaceX stock. According to Tipranks data compiled from 29 analysts over the past three months, the average price target is now $243.81, with estimates ranging from $115 to $800. The consensus target implies roughly 85% upside from the stock’s current price.

Last week, Citi initiated coverage of SpaceX with a buy rating and a $200 price target, according to a research note sent to TheStreet.

The firm believes that the target is only an intermediate milestone, arguing the stock could eventually exceed $900 if the company successfully demonstrates Starship’s capabilities at scale.

According to Citi, Starship has the potential to open the door to trillion-dollar market opportunities that few competitors can match.

“Ultimately, the successful deployment of Starship will establish the most affordable and scalable path to unlocking the economic potential of space, in our view, giving SPCX access to trillion-dollar markets that no other company can realistically tap into,” the analysts wrote.

Citi sees plenty of growth catalysts over the next two to three years, with SpaceX expected to strengthen its dominant role in Starlink’s satellite internet business while capitalizing on booming demand for AI infrastructure.

Wood was already a SpaceX investor before the company’s IPO. Ark Invest first bought SpaceX shares in late 2023, and it later became the largest holding in the firm’s roughly $1 billion internal venture fund, according to Business Insider.

Wood has long been one of Musk’s biggest supporters. During a CNBC show covered by TheStreet’s Moz Farooque, she said periods of turmoil often bring out Musk’s best work.

“These difficult times, though, spur Elon’s creativity. He is a troubleshooter and a brilliant technologist,” Wood said. She also heavily invests in Tesla stock.

SpaceX is now the sixth-largest holding in Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF.

Top 10 holdings of the Ark Innovation ETF as of July 16, 2026:

Tesla (TSLA): 10.11%
Tempus AI (TEM): 5.59%
Robinhood Markets (HOOD): 4.98%
CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP): 4.65%
Shopify (SHOP): 4.59%
Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX): 4.36%
Coinbase Global (COIN): 4.26%
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): 4.11%
Roblox (RBLX): 3.51%
Circle Internet Group (CRCL): 3.48%

Other than buying SpaceX shares, Wood’s latest trades included adding shares of X-Energy (XE), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS), Kodiak AI (KDK), Pony AI (PONY), WeRide (WRD), Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), Alamar Biosciences (ALMR), Prime Medicine (PRME), and Compass Pathways (CMPS).

Wood also trimmed positions in Deere (DE), Robinhood Markets (HOOD), Roku (ROKU), 10x Genomics (TXG), Twist Bioscience (TWST), Strata Critical Medical (SRTA), Absci (ABSI), and Personalis (PSNL).