Cathie Wood, chief executive of Ark Investment Management, bought shares of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) Wednesday for the second time in a week.
Prior to that she hadn’t purchased shares of the data analytics company since January 2022.
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Ark funds snatched 1,263,196 shares of Palantir Wednesday, valued at $12.9 million as of that day’s close.
The company’s flagship product is Palantir Gotham, designed for use by intelligence agencies and government organizations. Palantir has drawn criticism for working with government agencies involved in surveillance and immigration enforcement in the U.S. and abroad.
Palantir stock has skyrocketed 55% since May 5 on a strong earnings report. It has climbed 79% year to date and 38% over the last 12 months. Palantir is the 24th biggest holding in Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK).
Also Wednesday, Ark funds snagged 170,683 shares of cloud-communications company Twilio (TWLO), valued at $8.2 million as of Wednesday’s close. Ark sold Twilio stock in March and April before resuming purchases in May. It is Ark Innovation’s 15th largest holding.
“Twilio reported solid [first-quarter] results with good revenue and strong profitability,” wrote Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff. “However, guidance for the second quarter, while only slightly below our model on profitability, was materially below on revenue.”
The stock has dropped 53% over the last year, and has dipped 1% year to date.
Ark Sold Exact Sciences, Shopify
On the selling side, Ark Innovation dumped 95,865 shares of Exact Sciences (EXAS), valued at $7.5 million. The company is a medical diagnostics provider famous for its Cologuard at-home colon cancer test.
The stock has ascended 62% thus far in 2023, buoyed by strong earnings, and 48% over the last 12 months.
Ark has sold more than 4 million shares of Exact Sciences since Jan. 1. But it’s still the sixth biggest holding in Ark Innovation.
Finally Wednesday, Ark funds unloaded 89,193 shares of e-commerce host Shopify (SHOP), valued at $5.4 million. Shopify is the eighth biggest position in Ark Innovation.
The company’s stock has soared 30% since May 3, after it announced a sale of most of its logistics business and laid off 20% of its workforce. Shopify dumped the logistics stake to focus on its core e-commerce platform business.
Its stock has jumped 74% year to date and 67% over the past 12 months.
Wood’s Lagging Returns
Meanwhile, Wood’s performance hasn’t exactly lit the investment world on fire over the past two years, as her young technology stocks have slumped. Ark Innovation has descended 76% from its February 2021 peak.
Nonetheless, the fund has bounced back 23% 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 $7.3 billion-asset Ark Innovation was negative 0.95% through May 17, compared with positive 10.78% 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.
Some investors may be losing patience with Wood. Ark Innovation suffered a net investment ouflow of $7 million during the five days through May 17, and a $501 million outflow over the last year, according to ETF research firm VettaFi.
