Shares of Rocket Lab (RKLB 3.29%) climbed as much as 7% early Thursday, then settled to trade up 4.7% after Cathy Wood's ARKQ Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ 2.52%) added to its stake in the aerospace and rocket launch services specialist.
ARK Invest is bolstering its stake in Rocket Lab
More specifically, Wood's ARKQ exchange traded fund bought 27,324 shares of Rocket Lab on Wednesday. Yesterday's buy brought ARKQ's total stake in Rocket Lab to 3,483,938 shares, worth just over $19 million as of this writing, or roughly 0.14% of the fund's total holdings. This was the third time ARKQ has added to its position in the past week, including previous buys of 255,208 shares on Tuesday and 116,900 shares last Friday (Dec. 29, 2023).
The timing is no coincidence. Shares are still down more than 30% from last summer's highs, spurred by a failed launch in September. Rocket Lab stock subsequently rebounded more than 26% last month after not only completing its 10th launch mission of the year, but also announcing a new $515 million contract with an unnamed government customer.
What's next for Rocket Lab shareholders?
Given the timing of its past quarterly updates, Rocket Lab should be poised to release fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 results, as well as guidance for the coming year, in late February or early March. In the meantime, it's obvious that the market is viewing ARK's latest purchases as a vote of confidence that the company can continue higher from here.
