It was a busier than usual week for Cathie Wood. The Ark Invest architect — check that, Ark-itect — had an itchy trigger finger on the trading floor. The founder, CEO, and first stock picker at Ark Invest is hoping to bounce back from a rough start in 2024.
Wood added to her existing positions in Palantir (NYSE: PLTR), Pinterest (NYSE: PINS), and Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) last week. on Tuesday. Let’s take a greater take a have a look at the stocks she just bought.
1. Palantir
Plenty of Wood’s top holdings have been losing to the market, but Palantir has been a standout. Shares of the intelligence community software developer have soared 42% this 12 months, after greater than doubling in 2023. Palantir stock has now greater than tripled for the rationale that start of last 12 months.
The stock’s surge and Wood’s increasing position have Palantir as one among the 15 largest holdings across all of Ark Invest’s positions. It came through last week with well-received financial results.
It wasn’t much of a beat for Palantir last week. A 20% revenue increase throughout the fourth quarter was higher than the 18% gain the market was expecting. The $0.08 a share in adjusted earnings was also a marginal beat. Nonetheless, Palantir’s appeal as a play on artificial intelligence (AI), has made it a winner in 2024 even after a blowout stock chart last 12 months.
Palantir received a pair of upgrades last week from a pair of now former bears following last week’s fourth-quarter results. Citi upgraded the shares from sell to neutral, doubling its price goal to $20 in the strategy. Growing momentum in Palantir’s business business — still a fifth of the revenue mix, but growing quickly — makes Palantir greater than only a private-sector play. Jefferies also went from underperform to hold, lifting its price goal on the shares to $22. The stock is already higher than each of those revised goals, nevertheless it surely’s in any respect times refreshing to see the bears begin to thin out.
2. Pinterest
Wood’s timing on Pinterest wasn’t just about pretty much as good since it was with Palantir or Spotify. She added shares aggressively on Thursday, just before the visual discovery engine operator posted quarterly results after the market closed. Pinterest stock slid 9% lower on Friday, and she or he bought more shares then, too.
Revenue rose 12% throughout the fourth quarter, its fourth consecutive report of accelerating top-line growth. Its guidance calls for stretching its streak of accelerating revenue with a 15% goal, though each jumps fall shy of where the Wall Street pros were perched. Adjusted earnings topped estimates, and average revenue per user is growing again after driving in reverse through the first half of last 12 months.
The stock is now trading at 28 times this latest 12 months’s projected earnings and just 21 times next 12 months’s goal. It should bounce back if its user base keeps widening and its revenue growth continues to hurry up.
3. Spotify
Wood added some Spotify shares early throughout the week, her first major purchase of the favored streaming service operator in nearly two months. It was smart timing. Spotify rose tall this earnings season with a blowout report the following day. The shares have moved higher in six of the past seven trading days.
Revenue rose 20% on a constant-currency basis in its latest quarter, accelerating from a 17% year-over-year jump it posted three months earlier. Spotify’s number of energetic users has risen 23% over the past 12 months to 602 million. Plenty of them are free ad-supported listeners, but paying accounts have climbed 15% to 236 million over the past 12 months.
After back-to-back quarters of trouncing bottom-line expectations, Spotify has established itself as the very best streaming service stock for audiophiles. Wood likes what she’s hearing in relation to Spotify.
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Citigroup is an promoting partner of The Ascent, a Motley Idiot company. Rick Munarriz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Idiot has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies, Pinterest, and Spotify Technology. The Motley Idiot has a disclosure policy.
3 Stocks Cathie Wood Bought Last Week was originally published by The Motley Idiot