Patrick O'Donnell
Cathie Wood's ARK Invest funds reiterated their faith in Elon Musk -- buying back into Tesla after selling shares last week in a move that looked like it was making room for SpaceX's mega IPO.
A trading notice revealed on Thursday it added 54,815 shares across its ARK Innovation ETF -- where the electric vehicle maker remains the top holding, making up 9.7% of the fund -- and its ARK Next Generation Internet ETF, in which it is second in terms of holdings, making up 8.6% of the fund.
Tesla stock closed at $400.49 on the day, valuing ARK's share purchase at around $21.9 million.
Wood's admiration for Elon Musk's companies is no secret and when his SpaceX company went to market last week her ARK funds had a big selloff, including some of its Tesla position.
ARK held roughly 3.29 million shares of SpaceX by the end of June 12, the day the rocket-and-satellite company went public across several exchange-traded funds.
It's unclear whether those shares were received as an IPO subscription before trading began, or bought in the open market after SpaceX started trading. And it's unclear at what price ARK bought those shares.
Wood sees both companies as a bet on the future. ARK views Tesla as more than EVs, with robo-taxis, robotics, and energy-storage the bigger attraction -- expecting the stock price to reach $2,600 by 2029.
Similarly, it thinks SpaceX can go stratospheric as AI goes into orbit.
"SpaceXAI will be able to monetize its infrastructure as it pushes toward AI's competitive frontier. Ultimately, the compute capacity from orbital AI servers, and their lower costs, should differentiate SpaceXAI from its earth-centric competitors," wrote ARK's Chief Futurist Brett Winton in its innovation Newsletter at the beginning of the week.
However, after a stellar start to trading life, SpaceX stock ended the holiday-shortened week with two consecutive falls, ending Thursday trading down 3.6% at $185. The move came after the stock's first down day ever as shares dropped 5% Wednesday, closing at $191.82. Before that, they rose for three consecutive days, trading as high as $225.64, up 67% from the $135 initial public offering price.
That won't worry Wood much, she's a paid-up member of the Musk fan club and his vision of the future. ARK is in this for the longer game.
Write to Patrick O'Donnell at patrick.odonnell@barrons.com
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June 19, 2026 06:29 ET (10:29 GMT)
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