Cathie Wood’s flagship Ark fund is on the cusp of being overtaken by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in the post-pandemic performance table, reflecting a dramatic shift in fortunes between the two prominent investors.
Ark Invest’s Innovation exchange traded fund — known by its stock market ticker ARKK — smashed most of its competitors in 2020, thanks to Wood’s aggressive bets on high-growth, disruptive companies like carmaker Tesla. That attracted billions of dollars from investors, lifting Ark Invest’s overall assets to a peak of $61bn early last year and helped make Wood the face of the bull run.
However, many of Wood’s biggest bets started sagging last year, and have this year tumbled further in a violent pivot towards cheaper stocks in often less glamorous, old-fashioned or otherwise out-of-favour industries.