Cathie Wood Drops $26M on SpaceX Ahead of Earnings, Adds $8.6M Meta Stake

As of 3:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 3 (3:30 a.m. Beijing time Aug. 4), Meta Platforms (META) traded at $593.78, up 6.66% (+$37.07) from the prior close of $556.71. The stock opened at $563.47, hit an intraday high of $597.52, and dipped to a low of $559.36. Per TradingView, ARK Invest shifted more capital into AI, space, and defense names in late July, with SpaceX its single largest buy — over 358,000 shares across multiple funds, worth about $26 million. The purchase came just ahead of SpaceX's first earnings report since its IPO.^{[TradingView]}That same day, ARK added roughly $8.6 million of Meta, which had been under pressure after its Q2 profit miss.^{[TradingView]}

Earnings and Lock-Up Expiry Loom, SpaceX Hovers Near 52-Week Low

SpaceX is staring down a pivotal week. Per ad-hoc-news, the company reports its first quarterly results as a public company on Tuesday, Aug. 4 — and just two trading days later, on Aug. 6, the IPO lock-up expires, freeing roughly 911.5 million shares, about 20% of all restricted stock, for trading.^{[ad-hoc-news]}The report notes SpaceX shares are hovering near 52-week lows, closing Wednesday (July 29) at €98.20, down nearly 4% on the day, before ticking up to around €99.00 — still more than 49% below the all-time high set June 16. The relative strength index has fallen to 33.3, putting the stock in oversold territory.^{[ad-hoc-news]}

The short side is also worth watching. Per S3 Partners data, short interest in SpaceX stands at about 35% of the float, with a notional value of roughly $26 billion — making it one of the most-shorted stocks on Wall Street. The shares have fallen 33.76% over the past 30 days.^{[ad-hoc-news]}Analyst expectations for Q2 are modest: consensus revenue of $6.82 billion and a loss per share of $0.29. In Q1, SpaceX posted revenue of $4.7 billion and a net loss of $4.3 billion.^{[ad-hoc-news]}

ARK Keeps Buying the Dip, SpaceX a Top Conviction Holding

Per Benzinga, ARK bought another 124,543 SpaceX shares on Monday (July 27), worth about $14.1 million, extending its pattern of adding during sharp selloffs. As of Tuesday, ARK's ETFs held roughly 4.4 million SpaceX shares.^[Benzinga]That came less than a week after ARK bought 121,384 SpaceX shares for about $15 million.^[Benzinga]SpaceX closed Monday at $113.50, down 1.4% on the day — its 13th decline in 16 sessions — and has fallen nearly 50% from its June high of $225.64, erasing more than $1.2 trillion in market value.^[Benzinga]

Despite the slide, ARK has poured over $475 million into SpaceX since its June listing and has yet to sell a single share from its public ETFs.^[Benzinga]Wood said on X: "The stock market is climbing a 'wall of worry.' Bull markets don't end this way. They end when everyone believes the sky's the limit!"^[Benzinga]In a Fox Business interview last week, Wood called SpaceX "potentially the most important company in the history of the world," arguing its opportunity extends far beyond rockets into global telecommunications via Starlink.^[Benzinga]

Adding AI Infrastructure and Chip Stocks, Trimming Big Internet Platforms

Beyond SpaceX, ARK loaded up on several AI names in late July. Per TradingView, ARK bought $15.5 million of AI cloud provider CoreWeave (CRWV) after the stock fell about 15% last week.^{[TradingView]}Tesla (TSLA) was also a major add, with ARK buying $14.3 million worth after the stock hit a 52-week low.^{[TradingView]}ARK also added to TSMC (TSM) and Nvidia (NVDA), buying roughly $8.2 million of each.^{[TradingView]}Per Benzinga, the TSMC purchases spanned four funds — ARKK, ARKQ, ARKW, and ARKX — totaling about $20.1 million. TSMC closed that day at $374.67, down 4.88% over five days and off nearly 7% in a month.^[Benzinga]

On the sell side, Shopify (SHOP), Snowflake (SNOW), and Robinhood Markets (HOOD) led the way, with ARK also trimming Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Deere (DE), and several biotech names.^{[TradingView]}Per AOL, on July 31 the ARK Innovation ETF sold 18,855 Snowflake shares, worth about $5.5 million at that day's close of $293.28.^[AOL]Per Benzinga, ARKK also trimmed 4,902 Amazon shares, worth about $1.1 million at the $226.65 close, and sold 3,344 Alphabet Class A shares, also worth about $1.1 million.^[Benzinga]

ARK Funds Under Pressure, Wood Bets on AI Deflation

The repositioning comes as ARK's flagship fund struggles. Per AOL, the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) gained 35.49% in 2025, far outpacing the S&P 500's 17.88% return over the same period. But as of July 31, ARKK is down 8.51% this year, versus a 9.41% gain for the S&P 500.^[AOL]As of July 31, ARKK's five-year annualized return is -9.75%, compared with 11.25% for the S&P 500.^[AOL]Morningstar analyst Amy Arnott's analysis shows that over the decade through 2025, the ARK Innovation ETF has destroyed nearly $5 billion in investor wealth, ranking as the fourth-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs.^[AOL]

In a June X post, Wood argued the bond market is increasingly pricing in the deflationary impact of technological innovation — especially AI — rather than the inflation risk many investors still fear.^[AOL]She noted that despite a sharp rise in oil prices over the past year, the Treasury yield curve has continued to flatten, suggesting the bond market is "discounting something more powerful: the deflationary impact of technological innovation, especially AI, which is beginning to boost productivity across a broad swath of the economy."^[AOL]Wood added: "The next phase of this cycle could be characterized by accelerating growth, falling inflation, lower interest rates, and a stronger dollar. That combination would create a very favorable backdrop for innovation-driven stocks and the technologies fueling the next productivity boom."^[AOL]Not everyone shares Wood's optimism. Per ETF research firm VettaFi, the ARK Innovation ETF saw net outflows of about $1.49 billion over the 12 months through July 30.^[AOL]

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