Cathie Wood stood in to defend her ARK Innovation ETF late Monday as losses continue to hit the tech-focused fund amid a broader market rotation into value stocks.
ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) shares rebounded sharply Tuesday star fund manager Cathie Wood stood firm in defense against the recent slump in her tech-focused holdings.
Wood told CNBC late Monday that she was becoming "more optimistic" about her portfolios amid the ongoing tech sell-off, which has tipped the Nasdaq Composite into correction territory and hived nearly 30% from her flagship ARK Innovation fund since its February 12 closing peak.
A 'broadening' of the current market rally, Wood argued, will give her both a chance to add to current positions on stocks such as Tesla (TSLA) and Roku (ROKU) at lower levels while simultaneously moving into so-called pure-play stocks whose growth trajectory is more in-line with the U.S. post-pandemic recovery.
“The bull market was broadening out to incorporate value or more cyclical sectors and I thought that was going to be very good news for our strategies longer run," Wood said. "The worst thing that could have happened to us what another tech and telecom bubble where the market narrowed so that only a few groups won."
Ark Innovation ETF shares were marked 4.6% higher in pre-market trading Tuesday, indicating an opening bell price of $115.34 each, a move that would trim its month-to-date decline to around 25.5%.
Tesla shares jumped 5.1% in pre-market trading to $591.52 each, while Bitcoin, another key holding in the ARK portfolio, was marked 4.7% higher at just over $54,000.00.
Short interest in the fund, however, has accelerated amid the recent surge in U.S. Treasury bond yields and the corresponding pullback in tech stocks, particularly Tesla, which has lost nearly $300 billion in market value since its early January peak amid a near 30% decline in its share price.
Data from S3 Partners indicates around $2.31 billion in currently being bet against the ARK Innovation ETF, a figure that represents around 19.76 million shares, or 10.8% of its outstanding float.