Ark Invest Founder Cathie Wood's Latest Stock Picks

Ark Invest has been around since 2014, but the past year has brought immense notoriety for founder Cathie Wood. A highly successful collection of ETFs makes her a force to be reckoned with. So, it's only natural that we would stop and listen when she talks.

Wood's stock picks heading into March 2021 are indicative of the investing mogul's long-standing favorite stocks and sectors. Sometimes, it's just nice to be reminded. 

 Wood's recent comments on stock favorites make investors wonder who's right—Wood or the seemingly counterintuitive Warren Buffett? 

For so long, Buffett's word went. Now, Wood is switching up the market's perceptions. Her estimated $60 billion in assets under management within her ETF collection proves it.

For example, take a look at the financial sector. Buffett is in on Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF), which is up 21.58 percent in the last 12 months. Meanwhile, Wood's top financial holding is Silvergate Capital (NYSE:SI), which has risen roughly 700 percent in the same time period.

Similarly, while Buffett holds healthcare company Merck (NYSE:MRK) for an 8.2 percent 12-month drop, Wood holds AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), which is up 14.92 percent in the year. 

Wood shared that a few stocks that are striking her fancy:

• Palantir (NYSE:PLTR) is a data warehousing company that's up 176 percent from its September 2020 IPO.
• AbbVie is a biopharmaceutical company that's doing well, as mentioned above.
• Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) feels obvious, but Wood is bent on its success. The shares are up 326 percent in the past year.

These picks shouldn't come as a surprise. They hit all the touchpoints—tech and scientific innovation. Wood's interest in the genomic revolution is evidenced by her ETF the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG).

Trends come and go. Ark Invest's collection of ETFs is clearly trendy, but it's also legitimately lucrative. Based on the forward-thinking notion of these ETFs and the fact that Wood shifts their holdings periodically, I think they might retain their outperformance for a while.  

The benchmark innovation ETF is ARKK. This basket has produced a 141.1 percent return in the last year. ARKG is up 181.27 percent, while ARKQ (which focuses on autonomous tech and robotics) is up 116.87 percent. ARKF, the fintech basket, is up 120.03 percent. ARKW (next-gen internet) is 150.82 percent in the green. 

Wood, or "Queen Cathie" as some internet users call her, has built a successful empire. Forbes reported her net worth to be $250 million as of October 13, 2020, but I have a strong feeling the number is on the up and up. The estimation is based on her company having $29 billion in assets under management—a number that has approximately doubled since then.