Cathie Wood Ditches Meta for These Two Tech Stocks: Here’s Why It Matters

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest just made a seismic portfolio shift—dumping Meta shares and piling into two alternative tech plays. The move signals a strategic pivot away from the social media giant's core advertising model.

The New Favorites: A Calculated Bet on the Future

Wood's team bypassed the usual mega-cap suspects. Instead, they targeted companies positioned at the convergence of artificial intelligence and next-generation computing. Think less about digital ads, more about foundational infrastructure.

Why Meta Got the Axe

ARK cut its position, signaling concerns over valuation saturation and regulatory headwinds. It's a classic growth-investor move: take profits from a maturing story and recycle capital into earlier-stage, higher-conviction themes. Some on Wall Street might call it performance chasing—we call it portfolio management.

The Bigger Picture: Follow the Smart Money?

Wood's bets often serve as a bellwether for disruptive tech trends. This reallocation isn't just a trade; it's a thesis on where the next wave of exponential growth will originate. Just remember, for every visionary call that hits, there's a portfolio manager somewhere explaining why their 'contrarian hold' was actually the prudent move.

TLDR

• Cathie Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF is up 42.18% in 2025, beating the S&P 500’s 16.81% gain
• Wood sold over $15 million worth of Meta Platforms stock across two trading days this week
• Ark Invest also sold $14 million of Iridium Communications, the largest share-wise sale of the week
• Wood added major positions in The Trade Desk ($15 million) and Baidu ($15 million)
• Despite 2025 gains, the Ark Innovation ETF has a five-year annualized return of -6.45%

Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management made major portfolio changes this week, selling over $15 million in Meta Platforms shares while adding positions in several tech companies. The moves come as Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF continues its strong 2025 performance.

Meta Platforms, Inc., META

The Ark Innovation ETF is up 42.18% year to date as of December 5. This performance far exceeds the S&P 500’s gain of 16.81% during the same period.

Wood trimmed her Meta holdings across the ARKK and ARKW funds over two trading days. The social media giant was one of two Magnificent 7 stocks that Wood reduced this week.

The largest sale of the week was Iridium Communications. Wood sold more than 950,000 shares worth over $14 million across three funds: ARKK, ARKQ and ARKX.

Ark’s Genomic Revolution ETF sold $3 million of Adaptive Biotechnologies in a single transaction. Wood has been reducing her position in the Seattle biotech company since June 2025.

Wood’s Buying Activity

While selling some positions, Wood made several large purchases. She added approximately 385,000 shares of The Trade Desk worth over $15 million across two funds.

The Trade Desk, Inc., TTD

Wood also bought $15 million in Baidu shares, continuing her pattern of adding the Chinese AI and search company. She increased her position in Shopify by over $7.5 million across three consecutive trading sessions.

Other purchases included Recursion Pharmaceuticals, where Wood bought over 337,000 shares worth $1.5 million. She added shares of GeneDx Holdings worth over $4.6 million across two funds.

Wood bought more than $4.5 million of her own ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF. She also added over $2.5 million in Robinhood Markets shares.

Wood’s Investment Strategy

Wood focuses on emerging tech companies in artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology and robotics. Her strategy targets businesses she views as drivers of long-term growth.

This approach creates volatility in her funds. The Ark Innovation ETF delivered a 153% return in 2020 but lost more than 60% in 2022.

Over five years, the fund has posted an annualized return of -6.45% as of December 5. The S&P 500 delivered a 14.86% annualized return over the same period.

From 2014 to 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out $7 billion in investor wealth according to Morningstar analyst Amy Arnott. This made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott’s analysis.

Wood sold smaller amounts of other stocks including Coinbase, GitLab, Tesla, Symbiotic and Teradyne. She bought positions in Arcturus Therapeutics, Illumina, Pure Storage, Deere & Co and CRISPR Therapeutics.