Cathie Wood Sells More Tesla Stock. Should You?

Cathie Wood is the founder & CEO of ARK Invest. ARK typically likes growth stocks, and Tesla is the largest position in the ARK Innovation ETF. (Getty Images)

Key Points

• ARK Innovation ETF sold 60,898 Tesla shares and ARK Next Generation Internet ETF sold 27,095 Tesla shares.
• ARK Invest maintains a bullish outlook on Tesla, with a price target of $2,600 by 2029, implying over 450% upside.
• Tesla is the largest holding in both ARK funds, representing more than 10% of investments, necessitating portfolio rebalancing.

Longtime Tesla super-bull ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood sold more Tesla stock. That can be alarming for Tesla shareholders, but there is no reason to follow her to exits—the reason for the sale is most likely unrelated to how she feels about the electric-vehicle maker’s prospects.

The ARK Innovation ETF sold 60,898 Tesla shares on Friday, according to the firm’s trading disclosures. The ARK Next Generation Internet ETF sold 27,095 Tesla shares.

Both are small trades and likely reflect portfolio management actions rather than any change in ARK’s view of Tesla stock. ARK didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the recent sales.

Traditionally, ARK has felt very good about shares. Wood’s price target for Tesla stock is $2,600 by 2029. That’s up more than 450% from recent levels and implies average annual gains of about 50% for the coming four years.

That’s an incredibly bullish outlook, driven mainly by the value ARK sees in Tesla’s self-driving robo-taxi business. Still, even bullish portfolio managers might have to sell stock from time to time.

Tesla is the largest position in both funds, representing more than 10% of investments. That’s a lot of exposure to one idea in a mutual fund or ETF. Sometimes institutional managers have to sell stocks, even ones they like, to manage exposures and control risk.

It’s also possible that as Tesla stock rises, it’s a little less attractive to Wood. That might not be the most likely scenario in this instance. The $2,600 price target still implies significant upside.

It’s also worth noting that ARK is an institutional money manager. Its primary role is to produce returns on clients’ funds. It’s unusual, but not unprecedented, for funds like ARK to publish target prices for shares they hold.

Target prices for stocks are usually the purview of Wall Street brokers, who produce research for clients such as ARK. Wall Street targets typically reflect where the stock will be in a year, or the price investors can pay now for a solid return in the future. Analysts don’t typically have targets that look out to 2029.

Currently, the top Tesla target on the Street is $600 a share from Wedbush’s Dan Ives.

Tesla stock rose 3.6%, closing at $475.31, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.

Coming into Monday trading, Tesla stock was up about 14% so far this year. The ARK Innovation ETF was up 42%. The ARK Next Generation ETF was up 44%.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com