Cathie Wood remains convinced in long-term potential of Tesla stock

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) lost nearly 10% on Tuesday after reporting weaker-than-expected deliveries for the fourth quarter – a sell-off that influential investor Cathie Wood saw as an opportunity to buy.

How many Tesla shares did she buy?

Wood bought 176,112 shares of the EV company on Tuesday. 144,776 of those were for her flagship ARK Innovation ETF while the remaining were added to the ARK Autonomous Tech & Robotics ETF.

In total, she spent roughly $19 million on the said purchase yesterday. She’s been aggressively loading up on Tesla Inc in recent months as the stock continued to tumble partially because CEO Elon Musk sold billions of dollars worth of it to fund his $44 billion buyout of Twitter.

According to Musk, though, the ongoing sell-off in Tesla shares is related to the central bank being too hawkish in its fight against inflation (read more).  

Versus the start of 2022, Tesla stock is now down more than 70%.

Tesla stock could be worth $1,500

After the purchase on Tuesday, shares of the electric vehicles manufacturer make up just over 6.50% of ARKK. The only two positions that are bigger than Tesla in her flagship ETF are Exact Sciences and Zoom Video Communications.  

The fact that Wood continues to buy Tesla stock despite an alarming sell-off over the past twelve months suggests she remains convinced as ever in the long-term potential of the EV giant.

According to the Founder of Ark Investment Management, global sales of electric vehicles will approach 8.0 million this year – a number that she expects will exponentially grow to 60 million in about five years.  

Consequently, she expects upside in Tesla shares to $1,500 by 2026.