To The Moon

ZINGER KEY POINTS

• Cathie Wood loads up about $1.1M shares in TuSimple
• Stock is trading way below its IPO price last April
• Ark Invest raises exposure after the company announced yet another key exit in two months

Cathie Wood-led Ark Investment Management on Tuesday further raised its exposure to self-driving trucking company TuSimple Holdings Inc, its first buy in the San Diego, California-based startup in over two months.

The popular stock-picking firm loaded up 146,700 shares, estimated to be worth $1.07 million, based on Tuesday’s closing price in TuSimple.

The self-driving truck startup’s stock closed 5.5% higher at $7.3 a share on Tuesday. TuSimple went public in April last year and began trading at an IPO price of $40. The stock is down 80% so far this year.

Ark Invest owns shares in TuSimple via two of its six exchange-traded funds — the Ark Innovation ETF and the Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF.

The St. Petersburg, Florida-based money managing firm held 12 million shares — worth $83.3 million— in TuSimple, before Tuesday’s trade.

The latest purchase lifts Ark's stake in the company, which is developing commercial-ready, Level 4, fully autonomous trucks for customers by 8.9%.

TuSimple shares rose on Tuesday after the company announced the departure of chief financial officer Pat Dillon, whose exit follows a key management reshuffle in March when Cheng Lu stepped down as CEO.

Wood, a Tesla Inc, has invested heavily in the Elon Musk-led electric vehicle company that aims to attain full-self driving capability sometime next year. Ark Invest has also recently started buying shares in General Motors Co because of its self-driving capabilities with Cruise.