Cathie Wood Sours on Tesla and Moderna, but Likes These Stocks Instead

Star portfolio manager Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management filed its 13F holdings report for the fourth quarter on Feb. 4. 

As usual, there were many moves into and out of the investment management firm’s holdings. The Q4 2024 13F filed showed that the firm had net assets of $12.0 billion invested in 183 stocks.  

In the fourth quarter, Ark Invest sold out of 11 stocks, reduced its holdings by 123, made new purchases into seven, and added to 52 existing positions. 

Technology stocks remain the investment manager’s bread and butter, accounting for approximately half the $12 billion in assets held in U.S.-listed stocks. 

According to WhaleWisdom.com, Wood’s quarterly turnover rate was 9.2%, defined as the number of new stocks purchased plus those sold out divided by the total number of stocks held.

Although Wood’s flagship fund, ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA:ARKK), has had some rough patches in the past few years, the ETF is off to a fast start in 2025. Through Feb. 5, it’s up 12.5%, about five-fold better than the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500.

ARKK has trailed both indexes badly over the past five years, but these four moves in the fourth quarter should help it shrink its lead.       

Key Points About This Article:

• Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management made 193 moves in and out of stocks in the final quarter of 2024. 
• While trimming Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was a big deal, the portfolio manager completely got out of the vaccine business by selling all of its Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA). 
• Genetic stocks became a significant part of Ark Invest ETFs in Q4 2024. 
• If you’re looking for some stocks with huge potential, make sure to grab a free copy of our brand-new “The Next NVIDIA” report. It features a software stock we’re confident has 10X potential.

Goodbye Moderna

The vaccine producer was the largest of the investment manager’s closeouts in Q4 2024. Ark Invest sold 1.16 million shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock in the quarter. 

While Moderna isn’t a top 10 holding for Ark Invest, it was still the 31st-largest position as of Sept. 30. With a market value of $77.8 million, it accounts for 0.71% of Ark Invest’s assets. 

It’s a good thing Wood did. 

Wood’s firm first acquired Moderna stock in Q3 2022. Ark Invest is estimated to have paid an average of $103.66 a share for MRNA stock. In May 2024, its share price hit a 52-week high of $170.47. 

At the end of Q1 2024, it owned 1.22 million shares of Moderna. By the end of Q2 2024, its share count was down 163,289. It likely was able to sell those shares at or near its 52-week high for a nice profit. 

Concerns about the company’s vaccine sales have analysts retreating from the stock. On Jan. 29, Goldman Sachs cut its rating to Neutral from Buy and reduced its target price by nearly half to $51. 

Moderna likely wasn’t a winner for Wood and the company. 

Tesla Gets a Haircut

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has always been Cathie Wood’s largest holding. She’s a big Elon Musk fan. Maybe now that he’s playing with federal government agencies like his personal assets, she’s realized there’s a downside to the world’s richest person. 

In the final quarter of 2024, Ark Invest sold 28.36% of its Tesla stock, reducing its share count in the EV company to 3.29 million, or 11.06% of its net assets. This is in addition to the sale of 725,614 shares in Q3 2024. 

You could hardly blame Wood for trimming her firm’s stake. She’s estimated to have paid $147.08 a share for her Tesla stock, which Ark first owned in Q4 2016. The stock traded at an all-time high of $488.54 in mid-December, less than a month after the election.

Taking profits at a time when the company’s financial performance has fallen off a cliff. In 2024, its profit fell more than 50% to $7.1 billion, while it eked out a small revenue gain to $97.7 billion. As a result, its net margin fell 820 basis points to 7.3%, its lowest level since 2020. 

ARKK Shines a Light on Illumina

San Diego-based biotech Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) was Ark Invest’s largest new purchase in Q4 2024, buying 686,330 shares. This made it the portfolio manager’s 31st-largest position, accounting for 0.73% of its net assets. The next largest new purchase was BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT), a nuclear power systems provider. 

Ark Invests investment in the genomic sequencing specialist took a hit on Feb. 4 when the Chinese government put Illumina on a blacklist of companies that it feels are doing things in their businesses that aren’t good for Chinese companies. It is a response to the 10% tariffs implemented by the Trump administration.

The portfolio manager is estimated to have paid $139.15 a share for its stock, which traded 10% below that price as of Feb. 5. 

Illumina has the 25th-largest position in ARKK and the 20th-largest position in the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (BATS:ARKG).  

Health Care Captures the Lion’s Share of ARK Invest’s Latest Focus

In addition to adding nearly $92 million in Illumina stock in the fourth quarter, Ark Invest added a second new healthcare stock and increased its positions in 13 more.  

The additional new purchase was Brainsway (NASDAQ:BWAY), an Israeli medical device company whose products help treat depression, smoking addiction, and other conditions. With 175,588 shares and a current value of $1.86 million, it’s not a prominent position as the 149th largest.

Of the 13 positions Ark Invest already owned, Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) was the most significant addition to its net assets in the fourth quarter. Ark Invest acquired 200,008 shares of the Texas genetic testing company. 

That brings its share total to 887,711, valued at $157.1 million, making it Wood’s 28th-largest position. With a 4.63% weighting, it is ARKG’s seventh-largest holding. 

Wood has done well with Natera. She first acquired shares in its stock in Q1 2024, paying an estimated average price of $102.70 a share. Ark Invest has had a 72% return on NTRA over the past year. 

However, ARKG is down 5.4% over the same period. 

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