Cathie Wood, chief of Ark Investment Management, often locks in gains when her favorite tech stocks surge.
That’s what she’s doing with Palantir Technologies (PLTR), trimming her position after the stock jumped more than 30% over the past month, fueled by a sharp post-earnings rally.
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. But so far this year, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up 4.15% as of Aug. 14, while the S&P 500 surged 13.74%, Yahoo Finance data show.
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 Aug. 14, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -7.40%, while the S&P 500 had an annualized return of 11.75% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
Cathie Wood says AI could help sustain high corporate profits
Wood usually focuses on high-tech companies across artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics. She believes these businesses have strong growth potential, though 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 an analysis by Morningstar’s analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the fourth-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in the ranking.
Wood remains optimistic about AI, which she sees as a major driver of productivity, economic growth, and corporate profits in the years ahead.
In a recent post on X (the former Twitter), 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.
Related: Cathie Wood buys $16.2 million of popular semiconductor stock
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.”
Wood also found reasons for optimism in the latest U.S. jobs report, despite nonfarm payrolls falling by 23,000.
“It’s not as scary as it looks,” she said, pointing to higher prime age labor force participation, cooling wages and productivity growth approaching 3%. She also suggested AI may be helping accelerate baby boomer retirements.
But not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. Over the past 12 months through Aug. 13, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $2.8 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
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Cathie Wood sells $11.6 million of Palantir stock
On Aug. 10, 12, and 13, Wood’s Ark funds sold a total of 66,533 shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR), according to Ark’s daily trading information. Based on the latest closing price of $174.04, these stocks were worth about $11.6 million.
Shares of Palantir have gained more than 30% over the past month, largely helped by a single-day rally of 29.45% on Aug. 4, after the software company posted rosy earnings and outlook. Still, the stock is down 2.09% year to date, trailing the S&P 500 Index’s rally.
For the second quarter, Palantir reported adjusted earnings of 41 cents a share, ahead of analysts’ estimates of 35 cents. Revenue jumped 93% year over year to $1.94 billion, beating expectations of $1.80 billion.
“To my knowledge, no businesses at our scale has even grown half this much,” Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp said in a CNBC interview. He also predicted that the strong growth will likely “go on for at least another 18 months.”
Earlier, a major concern for Palantir stock was that enthusiasm for software companies could fade as AI threatens their growth and profitability. But Palantir’s latest results suggest that it hasn’t happened yet.
Related: Veteran analyst rethinks Palantir stock after earnings
Revenue from Palantir’s U.S. government business rose 90% from a year ago to $809 million. The company is best known for selling software to the U.S. government and military, but its commercial business has been growing even faster.
U.S. commercial revenue soared 149% year over year to $764 million and has increased 380% since 2024 on a compounded basis. The company now expects U.S. commercial revenue to exceed $3.42 billion in 2026, up from its previous forecast of $3.22 billion.
Palantir also raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $8.15 billion and $8.16 billion, up from its previous outlook of $7.65 billion to $7.66 billion.
Many Wall Street analysts raised their target for Palantir stock after the earnings. For example, UBS analyst Karl Keirstead raised the firm’s price target on Palantir to $220 from $200 and keeps a buy rating, The Fly reported. The analyst said Palantir’s Q2 growth was “exceptional” and the results showed “no signs of competitive pressures affecting performance.”
Citi also raised the firm’s price target on Palantir to $245 from $200 and maintained a buy rating, citing “stronger bookings, backlog and guidance.”
“The results further weaken the bear case around rising AI competition,” the analysts wrote in a research note sent to TheStreet.
“Palantir increasingly appears to be benefitting from enterprise demand for ‘AI sovereignty’ with use cases around model evaluation, fine-tuning, as opposed to traditional data integration.”
Wood has been active in trading Palantir stock. She greatly increased her position in 2024 and sold many of those shares in 2025 as the stock climbed. In June, she bought back some shares. Now she’s selling again, likely locking in some gains after the post-earnings rally.
Palantir is currently the 10th biggest holding in the Ark Innovation ETF.
Top 10 holdings in the Ark Innovation ETF as of Aug. 14, 2026:
- Tesla (TSLA): 9.16% | $586.74 million
- SpaceX (SPCX): 5.98% | $382.94 million
- Tempus AI (TEM): 5.21% | $333.65 million
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): 4.66% | $298.51 million
- CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP): 4.59% | $293.78 million
- Shopify (SHOP): 4.53% | $290.03 million
- Coinbase (COIN): 4.01% | $256.89 million
- Twist Bioscience (TWST): 3.82% | $244.78 million
- Robinhood Markets (HOOD): 3.60% | $230.22 million
- Palantir Technologies (PLTR): 3.59% | $229.89 million
Other than selling Palantir shares, Wood’s latest trades included buying Cloudflare (NET), Cerebras Systems (CBRS), Cerus (CERS), and the 3iQ Solana Staking ETF (SOLQ.U).
She also trimmed positions in Shopify (SHOP), Deere (DE), Twist Bioscience (TWST), 10x Genomics (TXG), and Brera Holdings (SLMT).
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