Ark's Cathie Wood: Confidence growing in Tesla, buying more

Cathie Wood said Ark Invest is still bullish on Tesla and continues to buy up shares of the electric car maker.

“Our confidence in Tesla has grown as we’ve done research on what ride-sharing potentially could add. It could limit the risks significantly, it’s a much more profitable business than electric vehicles,” Wood told CNBC’s Bob Pisani on “ETF Edge” on Wednesday. “Even though there is some debate at Tesla whether or not they should launch a human driven ride-hailing network, it would be a very good bridge we think to their autonomous strategy and we think they will decide to do that.”

Ark Invest’s flagship fund — Ark Innovation —has raked in $5.3 billion in inflows this year alone, according to FactSet. The ETF, which trades under ticker ARKK, is up nearly 20% this year after an impressive nearly 150% gain in 2020. Tesla is the largest holding in Ark Innovation, making up more than 8.5% of the ETF’s total weight.

Ark reports its trades every day and those updates reflect the buying in Tesla, Wood said. The electric auto maker’s shares were down more than 2% on Wednesday, although they did tick higher slightly on Wood’s comments. Tesla’s stock is down 5% in the last one month, but still up 386% over the last 12 months.

“As time goes on and we learn about their artificial intelligence expertise, the 30 billion miles they have collected of real-world driving data, no one comes close ... I think Google might be at 30 million, compared to 30 billion and we know that in the AI [artificial intelligence] world and autonomous is AI that the company with the most data and the best quality data will win,” Wood added.

Wood said the probability of having successful autonomous vehicles is going up and therefore Ark’s price target will follow at some point.

Wood is a longtime bitcoin bull, with big bets on the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. Wood told CNBC she expected institutional interest in bitcoin this year but Tesla’s purchase of the digital currency was a surprise.

Ark Invest has more than $58 billion assets under management.

Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide.


Connect with CNBC News Online

#CNBC
#CNBCTV

[wv]

Cathie and Chamath are like the rich parents I never had

[davidj]

I admire ppl like Cathie who keep working even though she has all the money in the world to retire and just do nothing. She has real passion for her work... I'm retiring at 44 and will just invest based on her advice...

[steffverdonck]

great to have someone on the show with a medium to long term vision, that above all sticks to the same winners

[PatrickDorsey]

woooow, look at CNBC putting some respect on Cathie's name. no more laughing huh?

[darinmckee]

Cathie does all the leg work, research, confidence, and we all tag along. I think we all owe her.

[Aybo]

Oh it’s the guy that got owned by Chamath

[justinarzadon]

In Cathie we trust! BTC and TSLA is a continued buy!!!

[rkenseth]

She is why I own three of her ETF's

[praveenpatil]

All in with Cathie’s ARK👍. She really is an articulate person and ARK is the most ethical Hedge Fund IMO...

[MichaelG]

Cathie doesn't know it, but she is my sugar mama 🥰

[ricardocortez]

THE BEST INVESTOR OF THIS GENERATION!!

[McCliffy]

I'd rather invest with her than those who choose to invest in Chevron.

[artstationideas]

She is such a queen literally how elegant she is.

[jianjunzheng]

Put it simple: Cathie Wood is honest, and this is very rare in the fund manager group.

[simplefinancial]

Super smart women. She was always bullish on Tesla even when it dropped to $185 per share from $380 and people laugh at her.
She knew the vision of Tesla and it’s potential and now she is incredibly successful

[joeldeanmusic]

Mama Cathie! The most brilliant investor in the game.

[robwashington-personalfina]

She has made me so much money. We love you Cathie

[helensteve]

Thanks for this educative video and also thanks to those who recommended Mabel Jackson for her good works. Y'all have to know that making money digitally is the main key to survival now, as the government is hesitant on helping poor masses. I also recommend Mabel to people who wishes to earn hu ge proflt...

[lankale]

If you listened to this great visionary of a lady in 2015-2017. I bid you hello my fellow millionaire

[GGCandle]

She schooled him with that Zoom reversal.