Cathie Wood Loads Up $1M More Of This Self-Driving Trucking Firm As Shares Drop 80% YTD

Cathie Wood-led Ark Investment Management on Tuesday further raised its exposure to self-driving trucking company TuSimple Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: TSP), its first buy in the San Diego, California-based startup in over two months. 

The popular stock-picking firm loaded up 146,700 shares, estimated to be worth $1.07 million, based on Tuesday’s closing price in TuSimple.

The self-driving truck startup’s stock closed 5.5% higher at $7.3 a share on Tuesday. TuSimple went public in April last year and began trading at an IPO price of $40. The stock is down 80% so far this year. 

Ark Invest owns shares in TuSimple via two of its six exchange-traded funds — the Ark Innovation ETF (NYSE: ARKK) and the Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (BATS: ARKQ).

The St. Petersburg, Florida-based money managing firm held 12 million shares — worth $83.3 million— in TuSimple, before Tuesday’s trade.

See Also: Cathie Wood Cuts Another $32M From Tesla Stake — Initiates Position In This Legacy Automaker Instead

The latest purchase lifts Ark's stake in the company, which is developing commercial-ready, Level 4, fully autonomous trucks for customers by 8.9%.

TuSimple shares rose on Tuesday after the company announced the departure of chief financial officer Pat Dillon, whose exit follows a key management reshuffle in March when Cheng Lu stepped down as CEO.  

Wood, a Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) bull, has invested heavily in the Elon Musk-led electric vehicle company that aims to attain full-self driving capability sometime next year. Ark Invest has also recently started buying shares in General Motors Co (NYSE: GM) because of its self-driving capabilities with Cruise.  

See Also: Cathie Wood Loads Up $2.8M In This Self-Driving Trucking Company As Shares Plunge 38% In A Week

Photo courtesy: TuSimple