Cathie Wood Is Doubling Down on Biotech Stocks DNA, NVTA, TDOC

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  • Cathie Wood bought up large quantities of biotech company shares this week.
  • On Aug. 10, the “disruptive innovation” investor purchased more than 4,000 shares of Teladoc (TDOC), currently one of her largest holdings.
  • Wood has been on a biotech buying spree all summer long despite many of her funds reaping severe losses.
biotech stocks - Cathie Wood Is Doubling Down on Biotech Stocks DNA, NVTA, TDOC

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It appears Cathie Wood is as long on biotech stocks as ever. The Ark Invest founder and manager has been buying up popular biotech companies like Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA), Invitae (NYSE:NVTA) and Teladoc (NYSE:TDOC) en masse this summer.

What’s behind Wood’s interest in these tech-forward health companies? Well, since June, she has been buying up biotech stocks on a near-weekly basis. This month has proved no different for the fund manager.

On Aug. 10, Wood bought 1.068 million shares of cell programming company Ginkgo Bioworks, equivalent to 0.0345% of her flagship ARKK Innovation (ARKK) exchange-traded fund (ETF). On the same day, Wood made four separate purchases of Teladoc, a virtual health care company. The purchases were made across Wood’s ARKK Innovation, ARKF Fintech Innovation (ARKF), ARK Next Generation Internet (ARKW) and ARKG Genomic Revolution (ARKG) ETFs. In total, Wood acquired more than 4,000 shares of TDOC on Wednesday alone.

Wood has had her eyes on biotech stocks all summer long despite mounting losses in many of her funds. Just how much has she bought?

Wood Pursues Biotech Stocks as Innovation ETFs Sink

Wood has clearly been a champion of buying the dip this year. Even as ARKK eyes a nearly 50% loss year-to-date, this hasn’t discouraged Wood in the slightest.

Biotech has seemingly been one of Wood’s greater interests. In fact, currently Teladoc is her most pronounced holding across all funds. At the time of writing, TDOC makes up about 6.5% of her total fund weight, with a market value of $1.2 billion. Unfortunately, her average cost per share of the company is between $148 and $172 across her four funds that have holdings of the company. Currently TDOC shares are selling for roughly $40 a pop, meaning Wood has taken a substantial loss on the positions.

Wood began her biotech buying spree just this June, starting with hefty purchases of Invitae, a California-based genetics company. Coincidentally, NVTA is down more than 40% today.

From June 29 to July 26, however, Gingko was clearly Wood’s biotech of choice. Wood made 19 purchases of DNA stock during the dog days of summer. It’s unclear exactly what fuels Wood’s interest in biotech lately. But if time is any indicator, the notorious investor has no issue waiting for the markets to pick back up before reaping the gains on her investments.

On the date of publication, Shrey Dua did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2022/08/cathie-wood-is-doubling-down-on-biotech-stocks-dna-nvta-tdoc/.

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