Cathie Wood, the CEO of Ark Investment Management, has a well-known habit of scooping up shares of her top tech holdings whenever they suffer sharp declines. This time around, the famed investor has set her sights on Rocket Lab, adding to her position aggressively as the space stock tumbled well off its all-time high. Over the past month, Wood has purchased more than one million shares of the company through her various funds.

Last year, her flagship product, the ARK Innovation ETF, delivered a return of 35.49%, significantly outpacing the S&P 500's 17.88% gain over the same period. However, performance has been far more level this year. As of September 3rd, the ETF is up 13.29% year-to-date, while the S&P 500 has climbed 13.18% in that same window. Looking at a longer timeframe, Morningstar data reveals that as of September 2nd, the ARK Innovation ETF's five-year annualized return sits at negative 7.60%, a stark contrast to the S&P 500's annualized gain of 11.06%.

Wood's investment strategy concentrates on high-tech enterprises in areas like artificial intelligence, blockchain, biotechnology, and robotics. She firmly believes these companies possess explosive growth potential, but the extreme volatility inherent to the sector also leads to dramatic swings in the net asset value of the Ark funds.

According to a report from Morningstar analyst Amy Arnott, over the decade leading up to 2025, the ARK Innovation ETF has collectively destroyed nearly $5 billion in investor wealth. That staggering figure ranks as the fourth-largest wealth destruction among all mutual funds and ETFs.

Data from Ark's daily trading disclosures shows that between August 31st and September 1st, Wood's funds purchased a combined total of 705,102 shares of Rocket Lab. Based on the latest closing price of $63.81, this acquisition is valued at approximately $44.5 million. Rocket Lab's stock has been on a wild ride this year. On May 27th, the stock hit a record closing high of $150.23, but it has since retreated roughly 58% from that peak and is down about 9% year-to-date. As one of the largest publicly traded space companies, Rocket Lab competes directly with SpaceX, a private venture that Wood is also looking to gain exposure to.