Cathie Wood Boosts Stake in Microsoft, Facebook in AI Push

Abhishek Vishnoi, Bloomberg News

Catherine Wood, chief executive officer of ARK Investment Management LLC, during the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Florida, U.S., on Thursday, April 7, 2022. , Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Cathie Wood made her first purchase of Microsoft Corp. shares in about nine months, adding to her bets on US megacap technology firms tied to artificial intelligence.

Ark Next Generation Internet ETF, which has beaten the Nasdaq 100 Index this year, bought 8,810 shares of the company on Monday — the first addition of the stock since March 20, according to Ark Investment Management LLC’s daily trading data compiled by Bloomberg.

Separately, the fund also bought 10,212 shares of Facebook’s parent Meta Platforms Inc. after a gap of five months. Ark Investment already held nearly 51,000 shares of Microsoft and about 285,000 shares of Meta, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Ark’s fresh investments demonstrate Wood’s continued confidence in the prospects of stocks linked to artificial intelligence. Their rising valuations have raised the bar for the sector’s earnings, while governments around the world are trying to regulate the industry.

Seven companies, including Microsoft, have propelled roughly three-quarter of the S&P 500 index’s 20% gain this year, fueled by investor obsession with AI’s potential to disrupt the world.

Read: Big Tech’s Ability to Deliver on AI Profits Looms Over S&P 500