Cathie Wood buys $99 million of Alphabet stock

06 Jun 2026, 23:03 · The Fresno Bee

Cathie Wood, chief of Ark Investment Management, has actively traded tech stocks as investors search for the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom.

Wood just made one of her biggest trades of the year in the past week, snapping up roughly $99 million worth of shares in Google's parent company, Alphabet.

In 2025, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P 500's return of 17.88% in the same period. But so far this year, Wood's flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is down 4.34%, while the S&P 500 surged 7.86%, Yahoo Finance data shows.

Wood gained a reputation after the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a 153% return in 2020. However, her style also brings painful losses in bearish markets, as seen in 2022, when the Ark Innovation ETF tumbled more than 60%.

Those swings have weighed on Wood's long-term gains. As of June 5, the Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -7.26%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 12.39% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.

Cathie Wood shares latest outlook on AI, inflation, interest rates

Wood focuses on high-tech companies across artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics. She thinks these businesses have strong growth potential, though their volatility often causes fluctuations in the Ark's funds.

According to Morningstar analyst Bella Albrecht, two of Wood's Ark funds were among the worst-performing ETFs in the first quarter of 2026. The Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) ranked second on the list, while the ARK Innovation ETF placed fifth.

From 2014 to 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out $7 billion in investor wealth, according to a March 2025 analysis by Morningstar's analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott's ranking. The analyst hasn't updated the 2025 ranking.

Wood said on the June 5 episode of "In the Know" that she is closely watching June 17, when Kevin Warsh, the new Federal Reserve chair, announces the next interest rate decision.

"I do believe Kevin Warsh knows that interest rates have to come down, mortgage rates at least. And if inflation comes down as productivity is increasing, no matter how strong the economy is, I think he will cut rates," Wood said.

Wood argued that productivity improvements brought by technology are helping drive the economy while reducing inflation. She added that oil prices already appear to be peaking and could fall further if the Iran war is resolved.

Wood also pointed to early signs that some companies are cutting prices.

"We're hearing other companies like Walmart and Costco saying that they are not passing price increases through as much as one would expect because they are seeing efficiency gains and productivity thanks in large part to AI and robotics," Wood added.

In a March Bloomberg podcast, Wood says the global economy is not heading into a downturn, but into what she calls a "great acceleration" driven by AI and other breakthrough technologies.

"We're not going into the Great Depression, we're going into the great acceleration," Wood said. "These technologies are deflationary… AI training costs are dropping 75% per year, and inference costs are falling as much as 85% to even 98% annually."

Over the past 12 months through June 3, the ARK Innovation ETF saw roughly $508.77 million in net outflows. Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Not all investors agree with Wood's optimism. Over the past 12 months through June 3, the ARK Innovation ETF saw roughly $508.77 million in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi.

Cathie Wood buys $99 million of Alphabet stock

On June 3, Wood significantly increased her exposure to Alphabet stock, purchasing 133,791 shares of Alphabet Class A (GOOGL) and the same amount of Alphabet Class C (GOOG). Based on June 4's closing prices, the combined purchases were worth about $99.2 million.

Shares of the Google parent have been the best-performing Magnificent 7 stock this year, with shares gaining nearly 18% as investors have grown more confident in the company's AI strategy and products.

Alphabet recently raised a record-breaking $84.75 billion in equity to fund its ambitious artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout, according to Reuters. That includes $10 billion from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

HSBC analyst Paul Rossington lowered his price target on Alphabet to $420 from $435 but kept a buy rating, The Fly reported.

Rossington said Alphabet's proposed capital raise was "unexpected." It adds to elevated fundraising and IPO activity at the wider sector level that now includes Anthropic and ahead of an anticipated filing from OpenAI, the analyst wrote in a note.

On April 29, Alphabet reported first-quarter earnings, with earnings per share at $5.11, well above analyst estimates of $2.62. Revenue rose 20% from last year to $109.9 billion, topping Wall Street expectations of $106.79 billion. Google Cloud brought in $20.02 billion in revenue, ahead of the $18.05 billion analysts had been expecting, according to CNBC.

"Our enterprise AI solutions have become our primary growth driver for cloud for the first time in Q1," Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in the earnings call.

The company lifted its 2026 capital spending forecast to $180 billion to $190 billion, up from its earlier $175 billion to $185 billion range. CFO Anat Ashkenazi also said 2027 spending is expected to "significantly increase" from 2026.

Alphabet is not a top 10 holding in the Ark Innovation ETF.

Top 10 holdings of the Ark Innovation ETF as of June 3, 2026:

Tesla Inc. (TSLA) 10.47%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) 5.17%
CRISPR Therapeutics AG (CRSP) 4.80%
Tempus AI Inc. (TEM) 4.72%
Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD) 4.51%
Shopify Inc. (SHOP) 4.36%
Roku Inc. (ROKU) 4.11%
Circle Internet Group Inc. (CRCL) 3.73%
Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) 3.56%
Twist Bioscience Corp. (TWST) 3.30%

Other than buying Alphabet shares, Wood's recent trading activity included adding to positions in Meta Platforms (META), Alibaba Group Holding (BABA), Broadcom (AVGO), Coinbase Global (COIN), and Circle Internet Group (CRCL).

Meanwhile, she trimmed or exited several holdings, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Baidu (BIDU), Teradyne (TER), Veracyte (VCYT), Twist Bioscience (TWST), 10x Genomics (TXG), and Archer Aviation (ACHR).

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This story was originally published June 6, 2026 at 4:03 PM.