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Is ARK's Stellar Run Over? 5 ETF Themes to Follow Cathie Wood

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Cathie Wood, famous for the success of Ark Investment’s winning products, has created a great fan following so far. Many want to follow her investing style as it has managed a spot among the top 10 issuers in the $5.5-trillion ETF industry in 2020, thanks to solid asset gains.

However, the year 2021 has not proved lucky for Ark Investment’s products due to a changing COVID-19 scenario, central bank policies and investing backdrop. Rising rate worries have been prevalent this year due to economic reopening, inflationary pressure and the start of Fed QE tapering.

Ark Investment’s star product Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK - Free Report) has lost 23.2% in the year-to-date frame. Meanwhile, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW - Free Report) (down 16.2%), ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG - Free Report) (down 34.6%), ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ - Free Report) (up just 2.24% against the S&P 500’s 28% gains), ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF - Free Report) (down 17.9%) andARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF ARKX (down 6.7%) were the other losers.

If you believe ARK’s stellar run is over and 2022 will not usher in gains in the above products, you can still follow Wood via the following ETF investing strategies.

Digital Wallets

In early 2021, Wood told CNBC, “these digital wallets and two-sided market places, merchants and consumers...are going to usurp a lot of the role the banks play today.” Wood is pretty bullish on names like Square (SQ) and PayPal (PYPL), which rule the digital wallet space.

Growing penetration of smartphones and new-normal trends, which call for more stress on digital-only technology in many places, will support the mobile wallet market. Mobile Wallet Market size topped $100 billion in 2019 and is on its way to register gains at more than 15% CAGR between 2020 and 2026, per gminsights.com. A pureplay ETF on this arena is ETFMG Prime Mobile Payments ETF (IPAY - Free Report) .

Genomics

Another disruptive area that Wood sees great potential in is genomics. The healthcare landscape has been benefiting from the emergence of genomics which is aiding mankind to decode the function, structure, evolution, editing and mapping of genomes.

Per Wood, so far, several healthcare decisions have been made on the basis of guesses or experiences. “Now we’re going to have the data.” Genomics would prove to be path-breaking in curing diseases like cancer. The global genome editing/genome engineering market size is projected to touch $11.2 billion in 2025 from $5.1 billion in 2020, at a CAGR of 17.0 %, per a marketsandmarkets.com article.

Apart from Wood’s product ARKG, Global X Genomics & Biotechnology ETF (GNOM - Free Report) and iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF IDNA are a few ETFs that could be tapped to make the most of this boom.

Cryptocurrency

In September 2021, Wood -- a strong supporter of Cryptocurrency -- predicted that the value of bitcoin would rise to $500,000 in five years, per a Forbes article. In July, according to a recent filing, ARK Invest’s Wood has joined hands with 21Shares to offer the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, which would trade under the ticker symbol “ARKB,” if at all approved. The bitcoin ETF would list on the Cboe Global Markets and would track the S&P Bitcoin Index as its benchmark, per a MarketWatch article (read: ARK Invest Preparing to Launch Bitcoin ETF).

Book Profit on Tesla?

Who doesn’t know Tesla’s (TSLA - Free Report) success and Wood’s love for the electric vehicle (EV) giant? Tesla has become a one-trillion company lately. Its shares have gained 54.3% this year. Wood has long been a proponent of the company. However, of late, Wood has been selling Tesla and loading up shares in the U.S. listed China EV maker Xpeng Inc XPEV.

One thing is clear that Wood likes EVs. Hence, investors should keep a close watch on EV-related ETFs like Amplify Advanced Battery Metals and Materials ETF (BATT - Free Report) , Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF DRIV), KraneShares Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index ETF (KARS - Free Report) and The iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF IDRV.

Social Media

Wood is buying the dip in Twitter . In recent weeks, more and more Twitter shares were added by Wood to her ARK Fintech Innovation ETF. This opens up an opportunity for Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL - Free Report) .

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