Cathie Wood Tests Appetite for Ark With Launch of New Space ETF

Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management is launching its first new exchange-traded fund in two years on Tuesday, a key test of the money manager’s appeal after a choppy few months of both flows and performance.

The actively managed ARK Space Exploration ETF (ticker ARKX) will primarily track U.S. and global companies engaged in space exploration and innovation.

When Ark filed for the fund in January it triggered an industry-wide rally — such was the hype surrounding Wood, whose ETFs were among the best-performing of 2020. Since then Ark’s bets have been rattled amid a broader tech selloff.

The flagship Ark Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKK) has posted investor exits for five days running, according to the latest data, the longest stretch of consecutive outflows since the fund started in 2014.

Nevertheless, Ark ETFs overall have attracted almost $16 billion of new cash this year, signaling demand for a new offering could be robust. Despite recent turbulence, all five of Wood’s existing actively-managed products are up more than 130% in the past 12 months.

At the outset, ARKX’s top two holdings are Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ:TRMB) and another Ark fund called the 3D Printing ETF (NYSE:PRNT) with weights of 8.6% and 6%, respectively. Other large stakes include Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS), L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) and JD.com (NASDAQ:JD). The fund aims to invest at least 80% of its assets in the space industry.

Possible competitors include the Procure Space ETF (NYSE:UFO), which was among those that rallied when Ark filed for the new fund. Assets in UFO have roughly tripled since then to $129 million.