Cathie Wood is an American investor and founder of ARK Investment Management LLC, a New York-based investment management firm focused on disruptive innovation. She is best known for her investments in pioneering companies such as Tesla, Square and Palantir.
Wood first began investing in the stock market at age 13 while living in Arkansas. After graduating from college she went to work as a research analyst at AllianceBernstein, earning her Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1989. In 1995 she founded ARK Investment Management with partner Reuben Gregg Brewer, which now has over $20 billion under management across five ETFs that track various tech-oriented themes including 3D printing, robotics & artificial intelligence (ARKK), genomics (ARKG), fintech (ARKF) and industrial innovation (ARKQ).
Wood’s investment strategy involves focusing on long-term trends that are reshaping the global economy by combining fundamental analysis with technical indicators to identify potential opportunities early on. Her firm was one of the earliest investors into electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors Inc., having purchased shares when they were trading around $30 per share; today those shares trade above $600 per share. Similarly Wood also identified other revolutionary companies before their meteoric rise such as Square Inc., which provides payment processing solutions for small businesses; Palantir Technologies Inc., a data analytics company used by several US government agencies; and Beyond Meat Inc., makers of plant-based meat substitutes which had its IPO pricing set at $25 per share but currently trades around $200 per share.
Through her prescient investments Cathie Wood has become something of a celebrity figure within the world of finance, regularly appearing on TV networks like CNBC where she discusses her latest stock picks or market outlooks while dispensing valuable advice to viewers who may be interested in following similar strategies themselves.
