Cathie Wood's Ark Bought the Dip in Tesla Stock. No One Else Is. -- Barrons.com

By Al Root

Tesla stock had a horrible Thursday. That was an opportunity for Cathie Wood's ARK Invest.

ARK bought about 160,000 shares of the EV maker in four funds on Thursday: ARK Innovation ETF, ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF, and ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF.

The purchase came as Tesla stock dropped almost 15% following weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings reported on Wednesday evening. The shares failed to mount a comeback early Friday, slipping 0.6% to $317.86 shortly after the open, while the S&P 500 was flat.

Tesla earned an operating profit of around $400 million, about $1.3 billion less than Wall Street projected.

Operating profit was expected to rise from $923 million a year earlier, as EV deliveries in the second quarter hit roughly 480,000 units, up 25% year over year. Weaker pricing, higher costs, and other factors, however, weighed on results.

Wood zigging while other investors zag isn't a surprise. ARK is a big supporter of Elon Musk. Tesla is the largest position in the ARK Innovation ETF, accounting for almost 10% of assets. SpaceX is the third-largest position, behind Tempus AI. Both positions represent almost 5% of assets. SpaceX is the largest position in the ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF, accounting for almost 8% of assets in that fund.

Coming into Friday trading, Tesla stock was down 29% year to date and down 3% over the past 12 months. Recent trading shows that investors are getting a little nervous about the pace of AI expansion and valuation.

Tesla launched an AI-trained robo-taxi service in Austin, Texas, in June 2025. It's expanded into a few cities, but growth has been slow. Meanwhile, shares continue to trade north of 150 times earnings expected over the coming 12 months. The rest of the Magnificent Seven trade for an average of closer to 24 times.

ARK, however, is sticking with its convictions.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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July 24, 2026 09:42 ET (13:42 GMT)