A superstar investor with the Midas touch or just lucky? The puzzle of Cathie Wood
In February last year, Cathie Wood was the toast of Wall Street.
The 66-year-old investor had attracted millions of devoted followers with a unique vision that she frequently laid out in YouTube videos and tweets: that huge technological advances are reshaping the world, and Wall Street is too timid to take advantage of those seismic shifts.
In 2020, that vision paid off big time. Her flagship fund, called the ARK Innovation ETF, returned an astonishing 150% – well above the S&P 500's 16% return, when lockdowns led to a surge in many of tech companies Wood had bet on, including Zoom Video Communications and Roku.
It seemed Wall Street couldn't get enough – until recently.
Those same companies that had brought her so much success have plunged, and Wood's flagship fund has fallen hard. It's down by about 55% this year, much worse than the 18% fall in
