Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest funds purchased 34,080 shares of Meta Platforms on July 9, 2026, acquiring approximately $22.8 million of the surging tech stock as sentiment shifted sharply in the company’s favor following a slew of artificial intelligence announcements.
Meta’s stock climbed 14.8% over the week ending Friday, July 11, marking its best weekly performance since at least February 2024, according to Morningstar data. The rally was fueled by optimism around Meta’s new AI initiatives and plans to monetize excess computing capacity, a shift that comes after months of investor skepticism about whether the company’s massive AI spending would pay off.
On Thursday, Meta launched Muse Spark 1.1, its first paid AI coding model, offering near-frontier agentic capabilities at what CEO Mark Zuckerberg described as “a very low price.” The Meta Model API comes with $20 in free credits per account, plus a pay-as-you-go rate of $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens, positioning the company as a potential competitor to offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI.
The timing of Wood’s purchase reflects confidence in Meta’s emerging revenue streams. Meta is reportedly on track to begin mass production of custom chips designed to reduce AI workload costs, while planning to deploy 7 gigawatts of computing capacity this year and scale to 14 gigawatts by 2027. Deutsche Bank analyst Benjamin Black estimated these capacity additions could generate roughly $24 billion in incremental third-party cloud revenue, substantially higher than his prior estimate of $17 billion.
Wood’s conviction in Meta aligns with her broader thesis on artificial intelligence. In recent commentary, she has argued that the bond market increasingly reflects the deflationary impact of AI-driven productivity gains, rather than inflation risks many investors fear. She believes this technological deflation could create “a remarkably supportive backdrop for innovation-led equities” as growth accelerates and interest rates decline.
Meta shares now sit up 1.4% year-to-date, a modest gain compared with the Nasdaq Composite’s 13% advance, as the company had lagged much of the tech sector amid concerns about capital intensity. However, the week’s breakout suggests investors are gaining confidence that Meta’s AI strategy could finally translate into meaningful returns. The company is expected to report second-quarter earnings later this month, with analysts watching whether AI investments are beginning to support revenue growth while keeping spending under control.
Sources
- TheStreet — Cathie Wood’s Meta purchase of 34,080 shares worth $22.8 million on July 9, 2026; Meta stock’s 14.8% weekly surge; Muse Spark 1.1 launch details and pricing; Meta’s custom-chip production plans and computing capacity roadmap.
- Morningstar — Meta’s 14.8% weekly gain ending Friday, July 11; best week since February 2024; Muse Spark 1.1 capabilities and API pricing; computing deployment targets (7 gigawatts 2026, 14 gigawatts 2027); Deutsche Bank analyst Benjamin Black’s $24 billion cloud revenue estimate.
- CNBC — Meta shares surged 6% on Friday and about 15% for the week as sentiment improved around the company’s artificial intelligence strategy.
