Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Doubles Down on CRISPR as It Cuts Teradyne

Cathie Wood’s latest set of trades shows where ARK Invest still sees long-term disruption. According to ARK’s daily trade disclosures, the firm reportedly purchased 280,609 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics. This was worth about $14.8 million. The purchase was spread across the firm’s flagship ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) and ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG).

At the same time, ARK trimmed exposure elsewhere. The firm executed a Teradyne stock sell, offloading 21,505 shares of the semiconductor equipment market. This was worth $6.47 million. Amidst this, the Teradyne stock (TER) was trading at $301.99 following a 0.41% increase.

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Why ARK Invest Is Pivoting Toward CRISPR and Gene-Editing Stocks

ARK Invest’s CRISPR purchase shows how gene editing remains central to Wood’s investment strategy. The technology behind it is known as CRISPR-Cas9. This basically allows scientists to edit DNA with a level of precision that wasn’t possible a decade ago.

CRISPR Therapeutics has been working on treatments designed to fix diseases at the genetic level. Its most well-known therapy so far is Casgevy, developed with Vertex Pharmaceuticals. This targets sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. Regulators in the US and the UK have given a green signal to this therapy, making it the first time a CRISPR-based treatment reached the market.

Despite this, the company was seen reporting negative earnings. This is mostly because it spends heavily on research. But the firm continues to have strong liquidity and very little debt.

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The latest purchase came during a dip in CRISPR Therapeutics stock (CRSP). Shares were trading around $49.93, down about 5.4% on the day.

Across ARK’s ETFS, exposure to CRISPR Therapeutics stock sits around $500 million. This represents only 4.5% of the firm’s portfolio holdings. It should be noted that Cathie Wood began buying CRISPR Therapeutics stocks as early as 2017.

In addition, the overall market for gene editing stocks is slowly moving into the spotlight. Researchers expect the global gene-editing market to grow quickly this decade. It could reportedly reach around $15 billion by 2030. New therapies and clinical trials are expected to drive this growth.

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Looks like Wood is focusing on advancing in genomic engineering that could eventually challenge the impact of artificial intelligence or even cloud computing.