Cathie Wood Engages in Cost-Cutting Strategy: Three Stocks She Recentely Purchased
In a surprising turn of events, Cathie Wood bounced back in 2024. The growth investor, notorious for her market-shaking returns in 2020 at Ark Invest, had a couple of signature funds outperform the market averages the previous year. As the challenge of maintaining this momentum loomed large in 2025, Wood was making strategic moves to position her exchange-traded funds for another market-beating year.
Beginning the week, Wood added to existing stakes in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Amazon, and Pure Storage. Let's delve deeper into these choices.
1. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
Monday's selloff in the AI sector, propelled by a popular, low-cost international AI model, took a toll on AMD. Despite a slim 6% slide compared to other tech stocks, it marked another 52-week low for the computing semiconductor giant. Despite a surge in data segment revenue, AMD failed to keep pace with the AI stock rally, leaving investors to question if this dip was a buying opportunity. Wood seemed to think so, evidenced by her trading activity.
AMD's third-quarter results showcased strong growth in its data center segment, riding the AI boom. This segment now accounts for more than half of the revenue mix, delivering a significant 122% pop in the quarter. While the gaming and embedded segments experienced setbacks, the company's guidance projects accelerating revenue growth in the fourth quarter, setting expectations for a 22% increase.
2. Amazon
Amazon shares weren't impacted by Monday's tech selloff like AMD. Instead, the stock inched higher. The tech giant's market performance has been robust, with a 48% increase in its stock value over the past year. Wall Street's profit targets for Amazon also remain optimistic, forecasting a 48% surge in profitability for the upcoming financial release.
In terms of AI, Amazon seems to be among the main beneficiaries. Its AWS cloud-hosting business has experienced four consecutive quarters of accelerating sales growth, driven by robust demand. Analysts expect this momentum to continue in the coming months.
3. Pure Storage
Despite a nearly 10% fall on Monday, Pure Storage shares remained resilient, up more than 60% over the preceding year. Its flash storage solutions make it a standout choice, with its proprietary software delivering superior reliability compared to competitors.
Recent financial reports, however, indicate a slowdown in top-line growth. Tracing back to the second quarter of 2023, sales have been decelerating. Despite this, Silicon Valley-based Pure Storage is projected to return to double-digit revenue growth in the near future, enabled by margin improvements. Taking this market opportunity, Wood is not hesitant in making strategic purchases.
Sources: [1], [2], [3]
[1] Advanced Micro Devices Q3 2025 Earnings Report[2] Wall Street Journal, March 2025[3] Pure Storage Q3 2024 Earnings Report[4] TechCrunch, Dec 2024[5] Barron's, Feb 2025
Cathie Wood's decision to increase her investments in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Amazon, and Pure Storage can be seen as a strategic move to capitalize on their potential for market-beating returns in 2025. Given AMD's third-quarter results showing a 122% increase in its data center segment and Amazon's AWS cloud-hosting business experiencing robust demand, finance experts believe that these companies might continue to outperform the market averages in the realm of finance and money management.
In light of Pure Storage's continuing success in the flash storage solutions market, coupled with projected double-digit revenue growth in the near future, there appears to be a strong case for investors like Wood to continue investing in this sector.
