Cathie Wood drops $36 million on her favorite stock originally appeared on TheStreet.
Cathie Wood isn’t in the investing game to play safe.
Though others gravitate towards benchmarks, she hunts moonshots, betting big on the businesses that could reshape entire industries.
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Her powerful playbook layers high conviction, deep patience, and rare transparency, which is often both admired and misunderstood.
Wood’s strategy has typically stuck with high-impact names through the storm. And this week, she ramped up her stake in a familiar name that has long defined her strategy.
Cathie Wood has made a name for herself by being a trailblazer in active management, leaning on breakthrough tech that few others dare touch.
She rejects benchmarks, zeroes in on AI, genomics, automation, and other seismic shifts that are poised to reshape sectors.
Her mantra is that exponential change drives outsized gains.
While the majority typically chase a stable yield, Wood looks for companies she projects can double in value within five years.
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Also, instead of spreading tiny bets, she focuses on a dozen or so high‑conviction names. This combination of focus and scale can effectively supercharge winners, though it magnifies losses, too.
Patience matters the most, though.
She counsels investors to “own it, don’t trade it,” urging patience on the rougher days, letting her ride the choppiness toward major inflection points.
Transparency is another big part of Wood’s philosophy.
ARK publishes daily holdings, white papers, podcasts, and scenario models in fostering an open‑book style. On top of that, the contrarian courage doesn’t hurt, either.
When the bears dismissed electric vehicles, ARK doubled down on Tesla (TSLA) . While others dismissed cryptocurrency, she backed blockchain.
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Moreover, ARK’s thematic ETFs, including Innovation, Genomics, Internet, Autonomous Tech, and Fintech, are each channeling a distinct revolution, letting investors target singular breakthroughs.
All in all, Wood’s style isn’t cozy.
Volatility is the norm, and big swings test nerves. Yet die‑hard fans see bumps along the way as the price of admission for potential generational gains.
Love it or loathe it, her mindset has made ARK Invest virtually impossible to ignore.
Cathie Wood isn’t backing off Tesla; she’s buying in deeper.
The Ark Invest founder just added another 115,380 Tesla shares on July 15 across two of her flagship funds. The buy totaled roughly $36 million ( $35.86 million to be exact), per Ark’s daily trade disclosures.
That follows close to 60,000 shares scooped up July 11, showing a clear signal that Wood sees value as Tesla stock tries to stabilize.
As of July 16, Tesla occupies the top spot in ARK Innovation’s holdings, making up 9.78% of the portfolio. In ARK Next Gen Internet, it ranks third with a 7.56% weight.
Related: Major analyst revamps Nvidia stock price target after China surprise
Tesla will be posting its earnings report on July 23.
Analysts forecast a 23% drop in quarterly earnings and a 14% decline in sales, according to FactSet.
That’s a steep bar to clear, but one that may have already been priced into the stock.
To be fair, the EV leader’s price action has been remarkably volatile.
After rallying from late April to late May on Elon Musk’s pledge to retreat from his political shenanigans, shares dropped again as his ongoing spat with President Donald Trump flared back up.
Still, TSLA has bounced 22% in the past three months. However, on a year-to-date basis, the stock remains down over 20%.
Wood has been a longtime defender of Tesla’s innovation edge, particularly in AI, robotics, and full self-driving technology. Consequently, Tesla stock has been her favorite investment over the years.
That said, whether the earnings report on July 23 delivers or not, Wood is clearly betting that Tesla’s near-term pain could be a long-term opportunity.
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Cathie Wood drops $36 million on her favorite stock first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 17, 2025
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 17, 2025, where it first appeared.