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Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest did some portfolio management selling some Tesla and Nvidia shares.
Courtesy ARK
After big stock rallies in shares of
Tesla
and Nvidia, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest is taking some profits.
ARK reported Monday that it sold 324,511 shares of
Tesla
(ticker: TSLA), worth roughly $80 million, out of the
ARK Innovation ETF
(ARKK). About $3 million worth of
Teradyne
(TER) stock and $41 million worth of
Meta Platforms
(META) shares went into the fund. ARK also sold Tesla and
Nvidia
stock from the
ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF
(ARKQ) and the
ARK Next Generation Internet ETF
(ARKW).
Total Tesla shares sold from all funds amounted to about 393,000 shares worth almost $100 million. ARK also sold about 20,000 shares of Nvidia (NVDA) worth some $8 million.
The sales are coming after rallies. Ahead of Tuesday trading, Tesla stock had rallied for 12 consecutive sessions, a record streak for the stock. Shares have risen 58% over the past six months. ARK was buying shares of the EV maker at the end of 2022 as Tesla’s stock price fell once Elon Musk closed on his acquisition of Twitter. The final buy of 2022 came in mid-December when Tesla shares were trading at about $150 apiece. They closed Monday at $249.83.
Tesla shares were up again, rising $4.45, or 1.8%, to $254.28 in trading Tuesday, while the
S&P 500
added 0.8% following lower-than-expected inflation numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The year-end trade by ARK worked out well. The sale of roughly 400,000 Tesla shares was one of the larger blocks of Tesla stock moved by ARK in recent months. ARK didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the reasons for its trades.
As for Nvidia stock, shares of the AI leader have jumped about 125% over the past six months boosted by optimism about demand for its powerful chips that enable AI computing. Nvidia stock was up 2.8% at $406 on Tuesday.
Gains in both stocks have helped ARK funds in 2023. Through midday trading Tuesday, the Innovation ETF has jumped about 44% this year, easily outpacing the 31% gain of the
Nasdaq Composite.
The Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF has risen about 37% in 2023, and the Next Gen Internet ETF is up about 49% so far this year.
The 2023 gains come after a brutal 2022 when all three ETFs fell between roughly 50% and 70% for the year. Both the Innovation and Internet ETFs have to rise more than 200% to get back to prior highs set in early 2021. The Autonomous Tech & Robotics ETF needs to rise roughly 80% to get to all-time highs, also set back in early 2021.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
