Cathie Wood took advantage of a record slump in Sea, snapping up more of the gaming firm’s shares after India banned one of its products.
Wood’s thematic investing firm ARK Investment Management LLC bought more than 145,000 Sea shares on Monday, with the Ark Next Generation Internet ETF buying up the bulk, according to the firm’s daily trading updates compiled by Bloomberg.
Sea closed 18% lower in New York on Monday after India banned its marquee game Free Fire, extending a selloff in its shares to 65% from an Oct. 19 peak. It’s on pace to rebound Tuesday, rising as much as 4.5% in premarket trading.
Analysts have cited a slowdown in gaming revenues, user growth and pressures on its e-commerce business among the factors weighing on Sea’s shares. India’s move to ban 54 apps due to security concerns, including Sea’s Free Fire, have only added to the headwinds.
“The ban certainly clouds Sea’s outlook a little, not just for gaming but e-commerce too,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Nathan Naidu. He added that it also raised concerns about the firm’s ability to expand into new markets.
Ark has been accumulating Sea shares since the start of this year and the frequency of its purchases increased this month. Ark ETFs have bought Sea shares almost every day in February, Bloomberg-compiled data showed.
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Sea -- founded in Singapore by Chinese-born founders who became Singaporean citizens -- has been growing its gaming and e-commerce business globally with early backing from Tencent Holdings, the largest shareholder of the company.
Ark’s daily trading updates show only active decisions by the management team and do not include creation or redemption activity caused by investor flows. Wood’s oft-repeated mantra is that ARK invests with at least a five-year time horizon, and that volatility in their equity picks is expected.
ARK’s flagship fund has struggled in the past year after advancing nearly 150% in 2020, after investors started dumping pricey tech stocks and switching to cyclical firms expected to be bigger beneficiaries of an economic recovery.
