Cathie Wood, chief of Ark Investment Management, often buys more of her favorite tech stocks when their prices tumble, seeing selloffs as opportunities to pick up shares at lower prices.
That’s what she just did with Nvidia (NVDA), buying $15.3 million worth of shares as the AI chipmaker’s stock plunged amid a scandal involving CEO Jensen Huang.
Last year, her flagship Ark Innovation ETF gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s return of 17.88% in the same period. So far this year, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up just 0.23% as of Nov. 10’s close, while the S&P 500 surged 9.87%, Yahoo Finance data shows.
Wood gained a reputation after the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a rosy 153% return in 2020. But her style also brings painful losses in bearish markets, as seen in 2022, when the ETF tumbled more than 60%.
Those swings have weighed on Wood’s long-term gains. As of Nov. 9, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -7.96%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 10.01% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
Cathie Wood says AI boom won’t slow down
Wood focuses on high-tech companies across artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology and robotics. She believes these businesses have strong growth potential, but 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 a report 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 the stock market despite growing concerns about the Iran war, higher energy prices and the recent U.S. elections.
She rejected concerns that Democrats’ election victories could slow the AI boom.
Related: Cathie Wood buys $17.2 million of tumbling tech stock
“Can this election derail the AI revolution? We don’t think so,” Wood wrote in an X post on Nov. 7.
Wood expects companies building data centers to care more for the local economy. The benefits include lower property taxes, higher-paying jobs, commercial developments and funding for schools and facilities.
Wood also believes AI-driven productivity gains will also help ease affordability pressures while boosting corporate profits and investment.
“In our view, those gains will translate into higher compensation—helping to turn around affordability—, as well as stronger margins, more investment, and lower prices,” she said.
Despite the market’s recent uncertainty, Wood believes investors are underestimating the economic growth that AI could deliver.
“We have experienced just a taste of this technology revolution,” she wrote. “The market’s uncertainty is understandable, but we believe the economy is on a stronger growth trajectory than most investors recognize.”
Not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. Over the past month through Nov. 9, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $4.15 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.
Cathie Wood says the AI boom won’t slow down.
Cathie Wood buys $15.3 million of Nvidia stock
On Nov. 9, Wood’s Ark funds bought a total of 90,443 shares of Nvidia Corporation (NVDA), according to Ark’s daily trading information sent to TheStreet. These shares were worth about $15.3 million based on the latest trading price of $168.89.
The purchase came after Wood snapped up 252,592 Nvidia shares during a brutal market selloff last week, led by midterm election results and concerns that the outcome could slow the expansion of AI data centers.
Nvidia stock has fallen roughly 18.3% over the past five days, bringing its year-to-date loss to 9.4%. The recent decline was first driven by the selloff last week, followed by reports that CEO Jensen Huang had an affair with a suspected spy.
Related: Cathie Wood buys $47 million of popular semiconductor stock
Huang quickly admitted to the affair and apologized in a letter to Nvidia employees, board members and shareholders.
“I am fully committed to NVIDIA and will work to earn back your confidence,” Huang said. “Regarding the national security concerns raised in news reports, NVIDIA’s Board of Directors has initiated an independent investigation. I support the investigation and will cooperate fully.”
Nvidia remains at the center of the AI boom, supplying chips that power data centers around the world. But the stock has struggled to regain momentum after soaring 239% in 2023, 171% in 2024 and nearly 39% in 2025.
Nvidia is scheduled to report earnings on Nov. 17, which could be the next major catalyst for the stock.
Many Wall Street analysts remain bullish on Nvidia despite the latest controversy.
“The big question every Nvidia and tech investor is asking…Will Jensen stay on as CEO of Nvidia?” Yorkville Ives managing partner Dan Ives said in a research note.
Ives warned that Huang’s leadership is critical to Nvidia’s future.
“Jensen is the core DNA of Nvidia and its AI success and ambitions are heavily tied to him staying on as CEO,” Ives said. “Jensen is not replaceable…there is no other person on the management team bench that can step in seamlessly as CEO and that speaks to the key risk now with Nvidia that investors will factor this dynamic to the stock.”
Ives expects Huang to remain CEO in the near term but warned that the investigation could put additional pressure on Nvidia shares. He also expects greater scrutiny from Washington over chip sales to China, particularly after last week’s Democratic election victories.
Ives maintained his outperform rating and $300 price target on Nvidia.
Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya also acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding Huang. He said Nvidia’s independent review of reported foreign-intelligence concerns adds “governance and policy uncertainty,” but cautioned against treating the allegations as evidence of financial damage.
Arya called the controversy a “new overhang, not yet an earnings event.” BofA maintained its Buy rating and $350 price target on Nvidia shares.
Nvidia currently ranks eighth among the holdings of the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK).
Top 10 Holdings in the Ark Innovation ETF by market value and weight as of Nov. 10, 2026:
- Tesla (TSLA): $667.58 million, 10.91%
- SpaceX (SPCX): $472.72 million, 7.72%
- Tempus AI (TEM): $404.44 million, 6.61%
- CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP): $275.17 million, 4.50%
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): $265.45 million, 4.34%
- OpenAI Group (Series C): $252.46 million, 4.12%
- Coinbase Global (COIN): $230.82 million, 3.77%
- Nvidia (NVDA): $215.05 million, 3.51%
- Shopify (SHOP): $198.23 million, 3.24%
- Twist Bioscience (TWST): $197.88 million, 3.23%
Other than buying Nvidia shares, Wood’s recent moves included buying shares of SoFi Technologies (SOFI) and Scribe Therapeutics (SCTX).
Wood also trimmed positions in Broadcom (AVGO), Teradyne (TER), Block (XYZ), Tempus AI (TEM), BYD (BYDDY), Synopsys (SNPS), Bullish (BLSH), ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), Personalis (PSNL), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), and Honeywell Aerospace (HONA).
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