Cathie Wood’s family of funds wasted no time pouncing on weakness in shares of Block after a short-seller report.
Three of Wood’s funds, including the flagship ARK Innovation bought stock in Block on 23 March after the publication of a report by Hindenburg Research, which accused the payments company of “reporting inflated user metrics.”
Block called the report misleading and said it would explore legal action against Hindenburg.
READ Short-sellers make $400m after Hindenburg report slams payments firm Block
The firm's shares ended 15% lower.
Short-sellers made roughly $400m as short interest in Block reached 27.96 million shares, or 5.21% of free float, according to financial analytics provider ORTEX, Financial Newsreported.
Wood’s funds altogether spent $21m buying Block shares, as they also ponied up $18m for shares of Coinbase Global, which fell 14% after reporting it was likely to be sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The fund manager helped fund the buy by reducing its stake in Tesla, though the electric vehicle maker is still the leading holding by some distance in the ARK Innovation ETF.
The ARK Innovation ETF has jumped 21% after a losing year in 2022. The ARK Next Generation Internet has gained 30% this year, and the ARK Fintech Innovation has rallied 24%.
This article was published by MarketWatch, part of Dow Jones
