Cathie Wood, head of Ark Investment Management, was relatively quiet this week, even as the S&P 500 rallied about 4.5% over the past five days.
Wood made no trades on Tuesday, April 14, and Wednesday, April 15, and sold some shares of two medical stocks on Monday, April 13, and Thursday, April 16. But on Friday, April 17, she made a bigger move, adding shares of a megacap tech company that had dropped nearly 10% in a single day, in line with her usual dip-buying approach.
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 up 1.75% year to date, while the S&P 500 surged 4.1%.
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. As of April 17, the Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -8.47%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 12.86% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
Cathie Wood expects “great acceleration” brought by tech developments
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 the 2025 ranking.
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In a March 23 Bloomberg podcast, Wood says the global economy is not heading into a downturn, but into what she calls a “great acceleration” driven by AI and other breakthrough technologies.
“We’re not going into the Great Depression; we’re going into the great acceleration,” Wood said, pointing to how past technological revolutions reshaped economic growth.
She noted that global real GDP growth averaged just 0.6% between 1500 and 1900, before the Industrial Revolution lifted it to about 3% for more than a century. Now, she argues, a new wave of innovation could push growth much higher.
“We think [technologies] are going to take growth into the 7 to 8% range,” Wood said, adding that the number may actually be conservative.
Wood also noted that AI is driving down costs across industries.
“These technologies are deflationary,” she said. “AI training costs are dropping 75% per year, and inference costs are falling as much as 85% to even 98% annually.”
In a letter published in January, Wood rejects the “AI bubble” talk, saying that it “is years away” and that “the most powerful capital spending cycle in history” is coming.
“What once was the cap in spending seems to have become a floor now that the AI, robotics, energy storage, blockchain technology, and multiomics sequencing platforms are ready for prime time,” she said.
But not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. In the 12 months through April 16, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.3 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
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Cathie Wood buys $2.5 million of Netflix stock
On April 17, Wood’s Ark Next Generation Internet ETF bought 26,161 shares of Netflix Inc. (NFLX), according to Ark’s daily trade information. These shares are valued at roughly $2.5 million as of the latest closing price of $97.31.
Shares of Netflix dropped nearly 10% on April 17 after its first-quarter earnings, the first report since it scrapped a proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in February.
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The streaming giant reported $12.25 billion in revenue, above the $12.18 billion analysts expected and up 16% from $10.54 billion a year earlier. The company’s earnings per share were $1.23, nearly double the 66 cents it posted a year earlier.
Netflix cited stronger-than-expected operating income (which grew 18%) and a $2.8 billion termination fee tied to its scrapped deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Netflix didn’t raise its 2026 outlook, maintaining its previous full-year guidance of revenue between $50.7 billion and $51.7 billion.
The failed deal with Warner Bros. Discovery will still affect Netflix’s finances this year. Netflix Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann said that while some of the initially planned costs will not “fully materialize,” some expenses that had been expected in 2027 will now be pulled forward into 2026, CNBC reported.
In March, Netflix revealed it would again raise prices across all of its streaming plans. The last time it raised prices was January 2025.
Company management defended the price hike during their latest earnings call.
“We look to provide more and more value to our members, [and] invest the revenue that we’ve got successfully,” said Co-CEO Greg Peters. “Occasionally, when we’ve added more value, we ask our members to contribute more so that we can invest that into delivering them even more entertainment value.”
JPMorgan recommended that investors buy Netflix shares on the sell-off, The Fly reported.
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The firm reiterated an overweight rating on Netflix with a $118 price target following the earnings report. It believes Netflix “continues to execute well, with considerable growth headroom,” the analysts wrote.
Netflix is not a top 10 holding in either the Ark Next Generation Internet ETF or the Ark Innovation ETF.
Top 10 holdings of the Ark Innovation ETF as of April 17, 2026:
- Tesla (TSLA) 9.71%
- CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) 6.35%
- Tempus AI (TEM) 5.14%
- Robinhood Markets (HOOD) 4.84%
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) 4.64%
- Shopify (SHOP) 4.49%
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL) 4.45%
- Coinbase Global (COIN) 4.41%
- Roku (ROKU) 4.07%
- Beam Therapeutics (BEAM) 3.73%
Wood had fully exited her Netflix holdings in Q3 2022. She then re-initiated the stake in Q4 2025, adding approximately 166,000 shares during the quarter, according to Stockcircle data.
In January, Wood bought 83,368 shares valued at more than $7 million after the company posted a strong quarter of beats across both lines, TheStreet previously reported.
On the sell side, Wood sold 11,465 shares of Circle Internet Group (CRCL), 31,417 shares of Bullish (BLSH), and 21,671 shares of CoreWeave (CRWV) on April 17.
Related: Cathie Wood buys $11 million of tumbling megacap tech stock
