Cathie Wood, chief of Ark Investment Management, often buys tech stocks during selloffs, betting on their long-term growth potential.
That’s what she just did with CoreWeave (CRWV), buying about $11.8 million worth of shares as the AI cloud computing company’s stock plunged amid growing concerns over its debt.
Last year, her 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, Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up 6.15% as of writing, while the S&P 500 has surged 11.89%, 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 the ETF tumbled more than 60%.
Those swings have weighed on Wood’s long-term gains. As of Oct. 16, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -6.59%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 11.37% 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, Ark Innovation ETF’s losses 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 Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ).
Related: Cathie Wood buys $17.3 million of surging AI stock
“I welcome the question. 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 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 health care, 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.
On Sept. 12, Wood reposted a post by David Sacks on X, saying he makes a good case that the “AI will kill humanity” headlines were deliberately orchestrated and were thus unreliable.
Meanwhile, Wood 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 the resulting productivity gains.
“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 Oct. 15, Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.5 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
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Cathie Wood buys $11.8 million of CoreWeave stock
On Oct. 15, Wood’s Ark funds bought a total of 192,566 shares of CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV), according to Ark’s daily trading information sent to TheStreet. These shares were worth about $11.8 million based on the latest trading price of $61.39.
Shares of CoreWeave sank 12% on Oct. 16, tumbling more than 25% over the past week as concerns about AI funding weighed heavily on investor sentiment.
CoreWeave buys Nvidia GPUs, installs them in its data centers, and sells access to that computing power to customers, including hyperscalers like Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOGL). The company is not yet profitable.
Last week, Bloomberg reported a sharp rise in CoreWeave’s bond yields, raising concerns about its debt-heavy balance sheet and whether the company can generate enough cash flow to support its expansion.
CoreWeave’s bond yields climbed to around 15%, while the cost of insuring its five-year debt against default rose by as much as 74.5 basis points to 1,194.5 basis points, an all-time intraday high, according to Bloomberg. That could mean odds of more than 60% that CoreWeave would default sometime in the next five years.
Related: Cathie Wood sells $15.8 million of popular semiconductor stock
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang defended CoreWeave last week, but that didn’t stop its slide.
“CoreWeave’s strength is improving every day,” Huang said at a Bloomberg event in Stockholm. “I’m optimistic. Their cost of capital is actually decreasing.”
JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee said CoreWeave’s recent selloff is overdone, according to The Fly.
Also read: CoreWeave stock plunges 12%, but Wall Street analyst says buy the dip
Data center demand “is robust and has improved in recent months, rather than moderated,” the analyst said in a research note shared with TheStreet last week, adding that project-level economics “remain sound,” with CoreWeave positioned to generate “healthy” margins and cash flow.
The firm maintained its overweight rating on CoreWeave shares.
Wood also expressed confidence in CoreWeave, saying in an interview on Oct. 16 that high borrowing costs are common for young companies raising capital when interest rates are elevated. She believes CoreWeave will overcome its debt concerns and that investing in the AI computing company will pay off, according to Bloomberg.
CoreWeave is not a top-10 holding in the Ark Innovation ETF.
Top 10 Holdings in the Ark Innovation ETF by market value and weight as of Oct. 16, 2026:
- Tesla (TSLA) – $748.68 million – 9.76%
- SpaceX (SPCX) – $491.85 million – 6.41%
- Tempus AI (TEM) – $413.44 million – 5.39%
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL) – $390.73 million – 5.09%
- Coinbase Global (COIN) – $350.53 million – 4.57%
- CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) – $331.44 million – 4.32%
- Shopify (SHOP) – $273.95 million – 3.57%
- OpenAI – $272.90 million – 3.56%
- Robinhood Markets (HOOD) – $245.80 million – 3.20%
- Twist Bioscience (TWST) – $239.80 million – 3.13%
Other than buying CoreWeave shares, Wood’s latest trades included buying Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX) and Rocket Lab (RKLB). She also sold shares of Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Block (XYZ), Shopify (SHOP), and Amazon (AMZN).
Related: Micron stock tumbles despite analyst calls semiconductor selloff overblown
