It's safe to say Cathie Wood has a knack for ruffling Wall Street’s feathers, and she’s done it again.
The maverick investor has almost always swung from fences, with her bold calls having minted fortunes, rattling skeptics in the process.
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Now, the ARK Invest star dropped fresh insights, proving she’s not done shaking up the old guard.
In a candid moment, Wood shared what keeps her so hooked on one stock she’s backed for years and why another tech behemoth may never earn a place in her portfolio.
How Cathie Wood made Tesla her biggest bet
Cathie Wood’s love affair with Tesla (TSLA) didn’t start yesterday.
Her first bet on Elon Musk’s EV trailblazer goes back to 2016, when her ARK Innovation ETF scooped up its first shares of Tesla stock.
Since then, she’s consistently pulled the trigger on the stock, forming roughly 8.5% of ARK’s portfolio, which equates to over $840 million in value.
On top of that, Wood’s Tesla thesis has never been shy. She’s called it the one stock to rule them all.
Related: Cathie Wood shells out $13.9 million for one high-stakes biotech stock
Wood feels that Tesla is above anything that combines the hottest trends in robotics, energy storage, and AI, backed by Musk’s relentless drive.
In all fairness, Cathie’s known for tossing out Tesla price targets that make jaws drop. In 2018, her team shook Wall Street by predicting that Tesla stock could skyrocket to $4,000 in just five years (from $300 at the time).
Even in 2025, with Tesla stock taking a beating, Wood hasn’t blinked.
She’s still pounding the table on her $2,600 target for Tesla within five years, pointing to robotaxis and the Optimus humanoid robot to drive the next leg of growth for the EV giant.
Regardless of Tesla’s woes, Wood has been relentless about loading up even when things look relatively bleak. Back in the third quarter of 2024, when Tesla shares stumbled, Wood doubled down and ramped up ARK’s exposure by about 130%.
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She’s also quickly reminded the doubters that while BYD overtook Tesla in revenue last year, Musk’s AI and autonomous tech still give him the edge.
Meanwhile, tech behemoth Apple (AAPL) never got the same star treatment. Wood boosted ARK’s position in Apple late last year, only to dump it entirely by early 2025.
With Apple’s recent slower growth and lack of big disruption, it just didn’t fit Wood’s moonshot playbook.
Wood doubles down on Tesla, questions Apple’s AI game
Cathie Wood just shared her views on whether Elon Musk’s latest political antics spell trouble for Tesla’s stock.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, she dismissed the headlines, saying she’s weathered Musk’s controversies before, underscoring her steely resolve in Tesla stock.
She added that Musk is stepping in to do what’s more important, in steering Tesla’s sales in the U.S. and Europe.
Related: Veteran Tesla analyst drops 4-word call
To Wood, it shows Musk’s locked in again, and if robotaxis take off, her call for Tesla stock to hit $2,600 could well be within reach. That’s a bet worth a trillion dollars if you believe in it.
With all the hullabaloo surrounding Tesla, Apple’s AI headaches are quietly piling up.
Wood flagged the surprise exit of Ruoming Pang, Apple’s top AI executive, who just jumped ship to Meta. For a company that’s mostly lagging on AI and now losing talent, it’s another sign Apple may be missing the boat.
And Wood thinks Apple blew a big shot when it discontinued its self-driving car project last year. She calls autonomous vehicles the “ultimate mobile device,” and she doesn’t see any clear plan B from Apple yet.
Hence, Wood feels the burden is on the Cupertino giant to prove it still has what it takes to lead the charge in AI, and not just play catch-up.
Related: Apple’s quiet shake-up could redefine its future
