Is Cathie Wood Cashing Out? Ark CEO Dumps Millions in Biopharma and Aviation Stocks

Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood is known for investing in disruptive industries, including artificial intelligence, genome development, space exploration, cryptocurrency, and autonomous robots.

With the philosophy that today's disruptive innovation will shape tomorrow's future and is the shortest path to growth, Wood places bold trades that Wall Street majors usually avoid.

Wood gained global popularity when all exchange-traded funds managed by her investment firm surged over 100% at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

According to the latest regulatory filings in June, Wood's Ark Investment Management sold millions of shares of biopharma companies and an aviation firm developing electric air taxis on 31st May.

Wood sold 3.33 million shares of Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT), trimming Ark's portfolio stake in the biopharma firm that leverages the immune system for disease diagnosis and treatment by over 43%. Ark still holds 4.4 million shares worth over £30.92 million ($41.88 million).

Ark also offloaded over 734,000 shares of Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT), trimming its stake in the genomic diagnostics company by 18.6%. She currently owns 3.21 million shares of the company worth £62.97 million ($85.29 million).

Wood's Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR) stock sale of 1.87 million shares reduced her portfolio stake in the company by 6.83%. However, she still owns 25.45 million shares worth over £189.59 million ($256.77 million).

Wood has consistently sold shares of the three companies in the past three quarters as the US stock market navigated extreme volatility amid severe broad-market index corrections.

Why Wood Sold These Three Stocks?

Although Adaptive Biotechnologies posted a marked rise in Q1 revenue and lifted the higher end of its full-year 2025 revenue guidance, the company continued to record net losses, which came in at £22 million ($29.8 million).

Meanwhile, Veracyte also posted a rise in revenue and net income for the quarter ended March 31 to £84.54 million ($114.5 million) and £5.16 million ($7 million), respectively. However, it posted an important update on operations, which could have contributed to Wood's decision to partially offload the stock.

The company said it is evaluating its ownership and operations of its French subsidiary, Veracyte SAS, in Marseille, which includes Veracyte's immune-oncology biopharma business, contract IVD development and manufacturing, and support for its IVD development and manufacturing.

Veracyte said it decided to stop funding the French entity. In response, SAS lodged a collective proceedings petition with the Marseille Commercial Court, and the court process is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

Elsewhere, Archer Aviation's stock rally was recently marred after a critical 20th May report from short-seller Culper Research, alleging 'milestone misrepresentation could create a contagion effect,' which could trigger investor concerns on the entire electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) industry.

The report claimed that Archer Aviation misled investors regarding its progress related to testing timelines for its Midnight eVTOL aircraft and the validity of a June 2024 flight milestone. Archer has refuted the claims, describing them as 'baseless' and raising questions about Culper's credibility as a research firm.

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