ARK Invest Just Launched A New Space Exploration ETF Betting On These 10 Stocks

ARK Invest’s funds have rocketed higher over the last year, and its newest ETF includes some names that might surprise you. Here are 10 of the stocks this new ETF tracks.

Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management launched a new ETF this week focused on the final frontier. 

Its first new ETF in two years, the ARKX ARK Space Exploration ETF, saw more than $294 million worth of shares changing hands on its first trading day, marking the eighth-best debut in ETF history.

That the ETF’s first day on the market was a successful one shouldn’t be surprising. ARK ETFs overall have attracted nearly $16 billion of new cash this year alone, with each of the firm’s existing actively-managed products up more than 130% over the last year.

“That performance naturally attracts more investments, especially on the part of retail traders,” Forex.com global head of market research Matthew Weller said. “The optimism evoked by Cathie Wood and her team is almost infectious – that’s something that has legs.”

The ARKX tracks U.S. and global companies engaged in space exploration and innovation, and  some of the names among the ETFs 39 holdings may surprise you.

While names like Trimble Navigation (NASDAQ: TRMB), Kratos Defense (NASDAQ: KTOS), L3Harris (NYSE: LHX), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Iridium (NASDAQ: IRDM), and Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) made the cut, so too did names investors might not expect, including Deere (NYSE: DE), electric vehicle maker Workhorse (NASDAQ: WKHS), and even Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).

Amazon makes up a 3% weight in the ETF, in part because of its advancements in drone-delivery. Similarly, Workhorse is planning to use drones, alongside its electric vans, to reduce delivery costs.

As for Deere, it relies on space technology like GPS to enable self-driving tractors to navigate fields, as well as space-based earth imaging. Deere is also a leader in drone applications for farming.

“By 2030, those drone delivery platforms can scale fourfold,” said Ren Leggi, ARK’s client portfolio manager, adding that the new fund “really is about anything above ground.” In other words, things that fly around, from rockets to drones.


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