Cathie Wood’s Newest Ark ETF Focuses on Transparency
Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management introduced a new ETF on Aug. 27 that focuses on transparency. Here's what investors can expect.
Sept. 1 2021, Published 12:17 p.m. ET
Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management introduced a new ETF on Aug. 27 that focuses on transparency.
The new Ark Transparency ETF will follow an index that tracks stocks of about 100 companies that receive high scores for transparency, according to Wood’s filing with the SEC. The Solactive transparency index excludes industries in alcohol, banking, chemicals, confectionary, fossil fuel transportation, gambling, metals, mineral, natural gas, oil, and tobacco.
Tech and consumer companies are the top holdings in the Ark Transparency ETF including Salesforce.com, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Nike, Chipotle, and Tesla.
An analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence says that Wood’s newest ETF is Ark’s version of ESG, a socially responsible form of investing that focuses on companies with higher environmental standards.
“It’s intriguing because it doesn’t have a moralizing vibe to it, it’s like they’re saying if you go after transparency, you’re probably going to buy good companies,” Eric Balchunas told Bloomberg.
Ark’s Transparency ETF is the second to launch this year.
The Ark Transparency ETF will be the second ETF that Wood has launched in 2021. In March, she launched the Ark Space Exploration ETF (ARXX). Focused on space-related investments, ARXX has risen about 4 percent since its debut and has more than $600 million in assets, Bloomberg reports.
Wood’s Ark Investment Management has about $45 billion in six actively managed ETFs and two ETFs that passively track indexes.
Ark’s six actively managed ETFs and their top holdings include:
The ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) has holdings in Square (SQ), Zillow (Z), and PayPal (PYPL).
The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) invests in technology companies disrupting their industries. The holdings include Tesla, Square, Teladoc (TDOC), and Roku (ROKU).
The ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG) primarily invests in healthcare companies. Its top holdings are Teladoc (TDOC), Exact Sciences (EXAS), and Regeneron (REGN).
The ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF's (ARKQ) holdings include Tesla, Trimble Navigation (TRMB), Baidu (BIDU), Google parent Alphabet (GOOG), and Nvidia.
The ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) includes holdings in Tesla, Square, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Twitter (TWTR), Spotify (SPOT), and Palantir (PLTR).
The Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX) has holdings in Lockheed Martin (LMT), Boeing (BA), and Virgin Galactic (SPCE).
Other Ark ETFs invest in the gambling industry.
While Ark’s newest ETF won’t include any gambling company stocks, several of Wood’s other ETFs have that industry covered. About 2.5 percent of ARKK’s holdings are in the online sports-betting company DraftKings.
Last week, Ark purchased over 1.07 million shares of DraftKings valued at about $60.6 million. Those shares were split between three of Ark’s ETFs. The bulk of the DraftKings shares, 742,840, went to ARKK. The ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) got 202,723 shares, while the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) got 127,608 shares.
Tesla is a favorite for Cathie Wood.
Wood must really like Tesla. Not only did she include Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company in the new Ark Transparency ETF, but Telsa is also the top holding in three of Ark’s ETFs. Tesla represents 10.76 percent of ARKK holdings, 12.05 percent of ARKQ holdings, and 10.71 percent of ARKW holdings.