'Money Tree Sister' who swept up top picks of Korean retail investors

ARK Invest portfolio analysis

Bitmine bought KRW 50.7 billion in one month

Also bought Figma, Bullish, etc.

ARKK ETF, up 34% this year

ARK Invest, led by Wall Street heavyweight Cathie Wood, chief executive officer (CEO), has recently bought large amounts of newly listed stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. These newcomers, which are also popular with Korean retail investors, mostly surged immediately after listing and are now undergoing a correction.

According to ARK Invest on the 11th, the stock most bought in the past month by the ETFs managed by the company was the crypto mining firm Bitmine. It is the company that holds the most Ethereum in the world and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in June. The purchase amount reached US$36.5 million (about KRW 50.7 billion). The stock fell 22.69% during the same period.

Similarly, the recently listed newcomers this year, the crypto exchange Bullish and design software company Figma, were also heavily purchased. Over the month ARK Invest bought US$28.7 million and US$14.9 million worth of Bullish and Figma, respectively. Bullish began trading at US$90 on its first day of listing on the 13th of last month, exceeding twice its IPO price (US$37), then surged intraday to US$118, temporarily halting trading. However, due to subsequent profit-taking, as of the 10th (local time) the stock had fallen to US$52.62. Figma also plunged 55.79% compared with its closing price on its listing day, July 31.

The newcomers ARK Invest bought are also favored stocks of Korean retail investors. According to the Korea Securities Depository, domestic investors net bought US$303.18 million worth of Bitmine over the past month, the second-largest net purchase during the period after UnitedHealth Group (US$306.41 million). Newcomers such as Bullish (US$73.92 million) and Figma (US$55.91 million) were also heavily net bought.

CEO Wood is known for pursuing a high-risk, high-reward strategy of investing in technology stocks with strong growth potential. In Korea, she is often nicknamed 'Money Tree Sister'. The flagship ETF 'ARK Innovation' (ARKK) has risen 34.1% so far this year, far outperforming the Nasdaq's gain of 22.25% over the same period. As a result of outperforming the market, an additional US$1.5294 billion flowed in over the past month. ARKK's major holdings include Tesla, Roku, Coinbase, and Roblox. U.S. investment media TheStreet said, "ARK Invest primarily buys smaller, nascent stocks among advanced technology names," adding, "They can be that much more volatile, so caution is required."

Reporter Jin-gyu Maeng maeng@hankyung.com