Cathie Wood's ARK Invest doubles down on UiPath as software firm's stock price crashes

By Louis Goss

Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management has upped its stake in its favorite artificial intelligence play, UiPath, as shares in the software developer plummeted to their lowest point on record.

ARK Invest, which was started by Wood in 2014, purchased more than $28 million worth of shares in UiPath on Thursday in five separate tranches as the software company's stock crashed 34% in its worst day ever.

Wood's fund, which is focused on disruptive technologies, first started buying UiPath stock in the second quarter of 2021 following the software developer's initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in April that year.

UiPath shares now account for 4.59% of ARK Invest's portfolio, with the fund having repeatedly bought shares in the New York headquartered company, even as its share price has dropped 84% since its April 2021 float.

UiPath, which makes software that automates repetitive tasks, saw its share price fall again, to all-time lows on Thursday, on news that its CEO Rob Enslin would be exiting the company just four months into the job.

Shares in UiPath (PATH) was down nearly another 1% in Friday's pre-market session, having lost 51% of their value in the year-to-date.

Enslin had previously worked as UiPath's co-CEO for two years - during which the company's share price has suffered - before he was made the developer's sole CEO in February. He will be replaced by UiPath co-founder Daniel Dines, who was Enslin's co-CEO until January.

ARK Invest experienced meteoric rise in 2020 on the gains achieved by technologies companies before undergoing a prolonged crash that saw the fund's assets under management drop 91% from a peak of $60.3 billion in February 2021 to around $5 billion today.

The asset manager, which was named in reference to the Ark of the Covenant in the Bible, is known for its unorthodox approach which has seen it employ a staff made up mostly of millennials with backgrounds away from the world of Wall Street, a profile in Barron's notes.

ARK Invest has also ploughed millions into Tesla shares, despite the volatile trajectory taken by the carmaker's share price in recent years.

-Louis Goss

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05-31-24 0503ET

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