One of the most respected voices on Wall Street, Cathie Wood of Ark Invest fame recently stated that her flagship Ark Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA:ARKK) reduced its exposure to Chinese stocks to zero. Fundamentally, while recognizing positives in the world’s second-largest economy, worries remain about some of its vulnerabilities — particularly China’s real estate market.
At first, Cathie Wood praised China’s impressive restraint regarding Covid-19. While other nations implemented various fiscal and monetary policy initiatives to address the crisis, the Chinese government resisted the temptation of “throwing money at the problem.” Instead, according to Wood, Chinese policymakers were “very disciplined” in their response.
Nevertheless, Wood’s good feelings toward Chinese stocks faded when “Beijing started to tighten its grip on the economy by cracking down on the ultrawealthy and the tech sector.” Most of all, she expressed significant discomfort about China’s real estate market “as the country incurred massive amounts of debt after over a decade of swift expansion.”
“It was responsible for roughly 15 years of double-digit real GDP growth … and growth like that can cover a lot of sins,” Cathie Wood said. She also stressed that China is facing a “day of reckoning” when it comes to its debt load.
Cathie Wood Takes a Hard Stance on Chinese Stocks
As CNBC points out, the Ark Innovation exchange-traded fund used to own shares of Tencent (OTCMKTS:TCEHY) and KE Holdings (NYSE:BEKE). According to Cathie Wood, her exposure to China and other emerging markets hit about 25% in 2020.
Back then, Wood was encouraged by the country’s discretion, as mentioned earlier. However, policy shifts and economic realities are now forcing a pivot. Wood stated yesterday in a prerecorded investor webinar:
“As we always do during bear markets, we concentrated our strategies towards our highest conviction names and the Chinese names, in particular, came out one by one as we were concentrating so that now, at least in the flagship strategy, we do have no exposure to China.”
Still, it’s important to realize that Cathie Wood isn’t entirely out of Chinese stocks. According to CNBC, Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA:ARKF) still owns a small stake in JD.com (NASDAQ:JD). However, ARKF has also “dumped other Chinese names” like PDD (NASDAQ:PDD) and Tencent.
Despite the cautionary outlook for Chinese stocks, Cathie Wood is no permabear, either. Should China overcome its challenging growth recovery journey, she may add back shares.
Why It Matters
For what it’s worth, Wood’s flagship fund is no worse for wear. Since the beginning of this year, ARKK has gained more than 55%. Interestingly, ARKF has swung even higher year-to-date (YTD), up more than 60%.
On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
