Investing in Space

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest launches a space exploration ETF, to begin trading Tuesday

Key Points
  • Ark Invest, Cathie Wood's firm with multiple actively managed exchanged-traded funds, will debut its latest fund on Tuesday: a space exploration ETF.
  • ARKX, the firm's eighth ETF, comes as an increasing number of private space companies prepare to go public later this year.
  • Wood — CIO and CEO of Ark Investment Management — has made a name for herself by investing in "disruptive innovation" stocks.
Virgin Galactic pilots walk to the company's SpaceShipTwo Unity spacecraft, attached to the jet carrier aircraft Eve.
Virgin Galactic

Ark Invest, Cathie Wood's firm with multiple actively managed exchanged-traded funds, will debut its latest fund on Tuesday: a space exploration ETF.

ARKX, the firm's eighth ETF, comes as an increasing number of private space companies prepare to go public later this year. In the past six months, seven space companies have announced SPAC deals.

The ETF's top 10 holdings by weight:

  1. Trimble - 8.3%
  2. Ark's The 3D Printing ETF - 6.1%
  3. Kratos - 5.6%
  4. L3Harris - 5%
  5. JD.com - 4.8%
  6. Komatsu - 4.6%
  7. Lockheed Martin - 4.5%
  8. Iridium - 4.3%
  9. Thales - 4%
  10. Boeing - 3.6%

Ark's new fund also includes Virgin Galactic (1.95% weight) among its 39 constituent holdings, as of Friday.

Wood — chief investment officer and CEO of Ark Investment Management — has made a name for herself by investing in "disruptive innovation" stocks. Her flagship fund, Ark Innovation, has seen more than $16 billion in inflows in the past year, according to FactSet.

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Wood has big bets on names like Tesla, Teladoc and Roku.

Wood has garnered a large following after Ark Innovation returned nearly 150% last year. However, her flagship fund, Ark Innovation, is down nearly 9% this year. Amid the recent rotation out of technology names and into value stocks from the pressure of rising interest rates, Wood has stayed the course. Ark often buys the dip in any of its top holdings, which are all high conviction names.

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