Catherine Wood's New Space Exploration ETF to Blast Off on Tuesday

The launch occurs as a growing number of private space companies prepare to go public

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Mar 29, 2021
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Heading into the great unknown, Catherine Wood (Trades, Portfolio)'s ARK Investment Management is launching a new space exploration-focused exchange-traded fund on Tuesday.

Wood, who is the founder, chief investment officer and CEO of the New York-based firm, has made a name for herself through investing in "disruptive innovation" stocks. On its website, ARK Investment said it seeks to invest in companies that may benefit from "cross-sector innovations like artificial intelligence, robotics, energy storage, DNA sequencing and blockchain technology."

This strategy appears to be working as its flagship fund, ARK Innovation (ARKK, Financial), returned more than 150% last year with big bets on names like Tesla Inc. (TSLA, Financial), Square Inc. (SQ, Financial), Teladoc Health Inc. (TDOC, Financial) and Roku Inc. (ROKU, Financial).

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The ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF, which will trade under the ticker ARKX, is the firm's eighth ETF. The fund, whose arrival coincides with the public debuts of a number of private space companies later this year, will invest in companies that it defines as "leading, enabling or benefitting from technologically enabled products and/or services that occur beyond the surface of the Earth."

ARK further compartmentalizes these companies into four categories: orbital aerospace companies, aerospace companies, enabling technologies companies and aerospace beneficiary companies.

In a statement, Wood said the "space industry is primed for takeoff."

"Thanks to advancements in deep learning, mobile connectivity, sensors, 3-D printing and robotics, costs that have been ballooning for decades are beginning to decline," she added. "As a result, the number of satellite launches and rocket landings is proliferating. We believe that the orbital aerospace revenue opportunity alone– including satellite connectivity and hypersonic flight – will exceed $370 billion annually."

On its website, ARK Invest listed the ETF's top 10 holdings by weight, which are Trimble Inc. (TRMB, Financial), The 3D Printing ETF (PRNT, Financial), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. (KTOS, Financial), L3Harris Technologies Inc. (LHX, Financial), JD.com Inc. (JD, Financial), Komatsu Ltd. (TSE:6301), Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT, Financial), Iridium Communications Inc. (IRDM), Thales SA (HO) and Boeing Co. (BA).

CNBC reported that Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (SPCE) was also one of the ETF's 39 holdings as of March 26.

Disclosure: No positions.

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