Cathie Wood, head of Ark Investment Management, often buys her favorite tech stocks when their prices fall.
This time, she’s buying Robinhood Markets (HOOD), adding shares after the online brokerage’s stock dropped following its third-quarter earnings report.
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. So far this year, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up 11.96% as of Oct. 28, while the S&P 500 surged 13.13%, Yahoo Finance data shows.
Wood gained a reputation after the 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 the ETF tumbled more than 60%.
Those swings have weighed on Wood’s long-term gains. As of Oct. 28, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -6.54%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 11% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
Cathie Wood remains optimistic about AI and tech revolution
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, the 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 defended her investment strategy after an audience member at a recent summit questioned ARK’s performance compared with the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ).
Related: Cathie Wood buys $24.5 million of tumbling megacap stock
“Investors deserve to understand both their returns and the decisions behind them,” Wood said in a post on X on Oct. 5.
She argued that the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) and QQQ are built differently. QQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, while ARK actively invests in companies it believes are driving disruptive innovation across industries, including healthcare, financial services, and transportation.
Wood has long been optimistic about AI, which she sees as a major driver of productivity, economic growth, and corporate profits in the years ahead. She has also pushed back against recent fears that AI could pose an existential threat to humanity.
In September, Wood reposted a post by David Sacks on X, saying he makes a good case that the “AI will kill humanity” headlines were orchestrated.
Meanwhile, she acknowledged that AI, like other technologies, can be used for harmful purposes. She said people such as Elon Musk who highlight AI’s potential risks are “doing us a great service,” adding that “half of the solution—including AI—is understanding the problem.”
In August, 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.”
Not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. Over the past 12 months through Oct. 27, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.46 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
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Cathie Wood buys $9.1 million of Robinhood stock
On Oct. 28, Wood’s Ark funds bought a total of 99,418 shares of Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD), according to Ark’s daily trading information sent to TheStreet. These shares were worth about $9.1 million based on the latest closing price of $91.43.
Robinhood (HOOD) operates a commission-free trading platform that allows users to trade stocks, options, and cryptocurrencies. The company makes money from transaction-based revenue, interest on customer cash, margin lending, and subscriptions.
Related: Cathie Wood sells $16 million of surging tech stock
Robinhood shares fell 3.3% on Oct. 28 and slipped another 0.5% on Oct. 29 as investors reacted to weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings, bringing the stock’s year-to-date decline to roughly 19%.
The company reported earnings of 51 cents per share, below Wall Street’s estimate of 56 cents, according to LSEG data pulled by CNBC. Revenue rose 12% year-over-year to $1.42 billion, matching expectations.
Net income fell to $468 million from $556 million a year earlier.
Robinhood has been expanding beyond its core brokerage business into prediction markets, wealth management, and subscription services.
Transaction-based revenue increased 19% to $867 million but missed analysts’ expectations of $879 million. Cryptocurrency revenue plunged 55% to $120 million, offsetting some gains.
Some analysts lowered Robinhood’s stock price target following the earnings report.
Mizuho lowered its price target on Robinhood to $130 from $140 while maintaining an Outperform rating, according to The Fly.
The firm described Robinhood’s third-quarter results as “very solid” but pointed to slower-than-expected growth in prediction markets in September and “less-stellar” trends in October.
Still, Mizuho believes Robinhood is focused on long-term growth and sees the recent stock pullback as a buying opportunity.
KeyBanc also cut its price target on Robinhood to $135 from $140 while maintaining an Overweight rating.
The firm said Robinhood’s third-quarter results were mixed, as strong trading volumes were offset by weaker-than-expected revenue generated from certain products.
KeyBanc slightly lowered its estimates after factoring in October trends but remains positive on Robinhood’s ability to gain market share, launch new products, expand into new markets, and attract more users through 2027.
Robinhood had long been a top 10 holding of Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF. But as Wood added to other positions and their shares gained value, Robinhood slipped to 11th place in the fund’s portfolio.
Top 10 Holdings in the Ark Innovation ETF by market value and weight as of Oct. 28, 2026:
- Tesla (TSLA): $693.98 million, 10.65%
- SpaceX (SPCX): $399.44 million, 6.13%
- Tempus AI (TEM): $365.59 million, 5.61%
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): $305.10 million, 4.68%
- CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP): $289.29 million, 4.44%
- Coinbase (COIN): $257.25 million, 3.95%
- OpenAI (Series C): $249.37 million, 3.83%
- Twist Bioscience (TWST): $231.93 million, 3.56%
- Shopify (SHOP): $202.58 million, 3.11%
- Nvidia (NVDA): $190.87 million, 2.93%
Other than Robinhood, Wood bought shares of Teradyne (TER), Cerebras Systems (CBRS), Archer Aviation (ACHR), Joby Aviation (JOBY), AeroVironment (AVAV), Kodiak AI (KDK), and Beam Therapeutics (BEAM).
On the selling side, she trimmed stakes in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), Tempus AI (TEM), Twist Bioscience (TWST), 10x Genomics (TXG), Rubrik (RBRK), Cloudflare (NET), and CrowdStrike (CRWD). She also sold shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB).
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