Cathie Wood Engages in Discount Shopping: Stocks She Recentely Purchased
Cathie Wood Engages in Discount Shopping: Stocks She Recentely Purchased
Cathie Wood's bold investing strategy took a hit earlier this year, but the co-founder, CEO, and top stock picker at Ark Invest has been thriving recently. Ark's most well-known exchange-traded fund has surged 25% in the last three months and 36% in the past six months.
Wood publicly shares Ark's trades at the end of each trading day. Last week, she increased her holdings in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 0.10%), Iridium (IRDM 0.62%), and Tempus AI (TEM -0.48%) on Friday. All three stocks have struggled in 2025. Let's delve deeper.
1. Advanced Micro Devices
2025 has been tough on Advanced Micro Devices. The stock is headed into the new year 15% down for 2025 with only two trading days left. The semiconductor specialist in computing reached a new 52-week low this month, despite the broader market soaring.
Despite experiencing rapid revenue growth and a booming artificial intelligence (AI) chip business, Advanced Micro Devices is stumbling as the year comes to a close. Last month, Advanced Micro Devices laid off 4% of its global workforce and saw its chief accounting officer resign. The stock has faced further challenges this month. Over five analysts have downgraded Advanced Micro Devices, reduced their price targets, or issued cautionary short-term outlooks for the company. The stock appears to be losing favor, but Wood made Advanced Micro Devices her largest purchase of the week on Friday.
Revenue for Advanced Micro Devices' data center segment skyrocketed 122% in its most recent quarter, accounting for over half of the $6.8 billion recorded in quarterly revenue. This segment has renewed interest in Advanced Micro Devices as an AI play, but skepticism persists. One of the firms cautioning on Advanced Micro Devices this month is Wolfe Research. Its research suggests that Advanced Micro Devices' AI business will only reach $7 billion for all of 2026, short of the $10 billion that analysts' projections suggest.
Advanced Micro Devices cannot afford to slow its AI chip business. Despite its data center segment more than doubling and its client business recovering, revenue only increased 18% in its most recent quarter. The rest of Advanced Micro Devices' business is faltering. The third quarter represented the best year-over-year growth for Advanced Micro Devices in two years.
The projections call for a 22% increase in the current quarter, which ends at the end of this week. Analysts anticipate a 27% increase in revenue for 2026, but this forecast could be revised if Wolfe Research's predictions regarding softening demand prove correct. It has already decreased from a 28% consensus a month ago.
Profit targets have been decreasing even faster, but investors should not count their chickens before they hatch. Advanced Micro Devices has beaten analyst earnings estimates for three consecutive quarters. The shares are now trading at less than 25 times forward earnings. While not a low multiple, it's considerably lower than the leading AI plays that investors have been pursuing this year.
2. Iridium
Another stock suffering this year is Iridium. The element named after it may be resistant to corrosion, but Iridium, the data and voice satellite communications specialist, has not fared well as an investment in 2025. Iridium stock has dropped 28% in 2025.
Iridium's growth has been sluggish, with single-digit revenue growth in five of the past six years. Its latest projections indicate service revenue - a significant portion of its business - will increase only 5% for all of 2025. Analysts predict this growth rate will decrease in 2026. Unlike Advanced Micro Devices, Iridium has underperformed market earnings estimates in two of this year's first three quarters.
The positive news is that it has nearly 2.5 million total billable subscribers, a 13% increase from last year. It is also generating profits and returning a significant portion of them to shareholders. It has invested over $1 billion in share buybacks and dividends since 2023. Wood tends to favor faster-growing companies, but Iridium's specialized services and its strength in both government and commercial markets make it an intriguing fit in Ark's universe of disruptors.
3. Tempus AI
Another stock that has fallen sharply recently is Tempus AI. Wood purchased the provider of practical healthcare applications when it went public at $37 in June. It appeared to be a stellar investment when the stock more than doubled at its peak last month. However, the stock has given back all those gains - and then some - since trading near $80.
Tempus AI is now a struggling initial public offering. The 60% drop since its peak in November is significant. Tempus AI's stock began to weaken last month after hinting that 2026 would be less robust than anticipated, but has the pessimism gone too far? Wood seems to believe so, having added to her position on nine different trading days in December. Tempus AI may be far from achieving profitability, but its expanding line of diagnostic tools should excite risk-tolerant investors, like Wood.
- Cathie Wood's recent investments in the crypto space include significant sums of money, demonstrating her continued enthusiasm for finance and investing, even in a volatile market.
- To diversify her portfolio and hedge against market volatility, Wood has been allocating a portion of her funds to physical assets such as real estate and precious metals, showing her cautious yet opportunistic approach towards money management.